Statting a Homunculus (FMA rip)

[bitterpill]

I was trying to stat multiple Homunculus/Artificial Humans (the backstory being that the Homunculuses was created in a Experiment by Kemmler on the Easter Front to prove he could become God and that they were made using the souls and bodies of multiple sacrafices). For a Eastern Front based Horror investigation game. 

I was trying to stat the Homunculus similarly to the ones show in the anime in Full Metal Alchemist so they would have near instant regeneration (mythic regeneration with the catch its limited to about hundred full regenerations) and an assortment of other power including shadow manipulation, A Combat Hacked Version of Cassandras Tears , Physical Immunity with Catch of Thamaturgy or Necromancy etc. Each of the Homunculus is meant to provide a party of 5 submerged PC with a hard fight.  Does anyone have any ideas?    

Here one I made earlier

Greed
+1 (Immunity and claws requires Perfect Shield form)  
-7 Physical Immunity (catch things that can reasonably affect a being made out of an indestructible carbon-based substance)    
-5 Mythic Regeneration (catch limited to a number of Philospher Stones each containing 20 stress)
-1 Claws
-2 Inhuman Strength
-15 Refresh  

Is it too overpowered ?

[Sanctaphrax]

I haven't seen the anime. I've read part of the manga. So the following thoughts are not necessarily accurate or reasonable.

Anyway, they all have Supernatural to Mythic Recovery except for maybe Wrath and Sloth. Envy has True Shapehifting and a few points worth of Modular Abilities. Lust has a vastly stronger version of Claws with a bit of range. Greed has Human Form modifying Mythic Toughness (or maybe even Physical Immunity) and Claws. Sloth has Speed, Toughness, and Strength at very high levels. Gluttony has Strength and Human Form modifying a really lethal power that I'm not sure how to stat. Wrath has an unfair custom power and a whole pile of stunts. Pride has incredibly lethal shadow manipulation.

Unfortunately, the Homunculi vary enormously in power and so you'll have to monkey around with them a lot if you want them to each challenge a Submerged party.

[Shadow lion]

yea thats about right for greed but the shield is the wrong homunculus,the steel body was for a different one.

 

[jybil178]

A very intersting idea, hehe...  Good luck on the full presentation of it... Now here is my little 2 cents...

Where did you pick up the idea that they have something like a Combat Cassandra's Tears?  I'm not sure if they showed anything more than a huge number of skills due to being as old and active as they normally are...  But I guess I could be wrong on that, hehe...

As far as the regeneration goes, maybe do something along the lines of they can regenerate along the lines of the red stones they used to keep themselves alive...  Maybe ever person that is thus "used", turns into a single stone, or maybe every increment of people provide enough to attempt one.  Then you also get into the idea of that while they may be creatures made my magic, they are completely unable to use it themselves, thus have to find promising individuals that they may teach some lesser form of Ritual to, in order for them to try to reach some goal they want *shrug*  I know I'm ripping horribly from FMA now >.<  Feel awkward doing that, hehe...

But it was just as an idea, so you can have an idea of a set amount of times Mythic Regeneration can bring them back "from the dead" and such.  Maybe keep track of the total amount of Stones each of your villains has attributed to themselves, and that their total regeneration comes from the stones.  So if each stone is worth a mortal life, then each stone then has a total value of about... 20 shifts worth of consequences, maybe more depending...  But that would be a good possible place...  A little bit more definitive then just 100 lives, and also more manageable for the PC's in general, hehe...  Just a bit more difficult on paperwork

The only other thing, is while I understand the Catch of Thaumaturgy, I think its a little too difficult of one to be used in combat..  Thaumaturgy similar to the way Ed used Alchemy just really isn't doable, unless the individual has Sponsored Magic, and even then, it would have to be a particular kind of Sponsor in order to get the kind of Thaumaturgy you'd need...  Maybe some form of Earth Evocation Catch, where the individual has to basically "make an attack on the very physical make up" of the homonculus, IE place a maneuver on him, that they need to tag the NEXT exchange, before the effects go away.  I'd also think of giving him Supernatural Toughness as well, with the same catch.  Thus, if I'm getting this right, It'll turn into Inhuman Toughness once the catch is used.  I only state this, cause Greed in particular was a bitch to kill, and even after the catch was achieved, he had SOME level of toughness left to him...

[bitterpill]

The idea of Combat Cassandra's tears was for Wrath whose 'Ultimate Eye' could predict a persons next action a very short term precognition, actually haveing a limit of about 20 or so lifes to the mythic regeneration in the form of philospher stones is a nice idea, The earth manouvre idea is pretty good idea adding fragile aspect. 

[Sanctaphrax]

About Greed: the Claws should also be affected by Human Form. And I take issue with your catches. Necromancy seems too restrictive. I'd prefer something more open-ended, like "things that can reasonably affect a being made out of an indestructible carbon-based substance". Sure, it's a mouthful. But it gives non-necromancers a chance to do something. Also, the Physical Immunity could actually be "just" armour 10 or so. After all, that's what Greed's power is: really, really, really good armour. The Catch on Recovery is good, but it ought to be worth at least 1 refresh.

What were you thinking of in terms of skills and stunts?

PS: Wrath's ultimate eye might be best represented as an aspect that can be tagged every turn.

[MijRai]

The idea of Combat Cassandra's tears was for Wrath whose 'Ultimate Eye' could predict a persons next action a very short term precognition, actually haveing a limit of about 20 or so lifes to the mythic regeneration in the form of philospher stones is a nice idea, The earth manouvre idea is pretty good idea adding fragile aspect. 

There is a Lore Power/Stunt called 'A Few Seconds Ahead' that uses Lore for dodging because you can see ahead. Abby has it, somewhere in Our World.

[bitterpill]

For greed in terms of skill would be a

+6 Endurance
+5 Fists, Presence
+4 Athletics, Conviction, Deceit  etc
  
For Wrath Legendary: Weapons, Alertness (both at a plus 2 due to his eye)
              Fantastic : Athletics, Deceit, Presence, Empathy, Rapport, Deceit, Conviction
and a bunch of other high skills.  

For Wrath I decided to give him such ridiculous skills instead of powers, his insane weapon skill and alertness is the result of his power and give him also he would have a bunch of social stunts.

I don't know where to start for the others.

Things that can reasonably affect a being made out of an indestructible carbon-based substance, is a good catch for Greed though I can't think of an example of what would fufill it. I will update the claws.  

[bitterpill]

There is a Lore Power/Stunt called 'A Few Seconds Ahead' that uses Lore for dodging because you can see ahead. Abby has it, somewhere in Our World.

Wrath could use something similar using Alertness rather Lore. 

[Sanctaphrax]

Wrath really doesn't need such a stunt/power for physical combat. After all, he's got sky-high Weapons and Athletics. But he could certainly use it socially.

I'd actually be pretty keen on taking a crack at Wrath myself. I'd give him far lower skills, but loads of stunts to compensate. Do you mind if I try it?

[bitterpill]

sure, I probably should off set the thread as a challenge anyway as some of the Homunculus are really hard to stat, If I was to give Greed Amour 10 as his Physical Immunity would it make to stat it as Physical Immunity (Catch Very High Damage -1) -7 or  -10 Ultimate Toughness (+10 stress + 10 Armour)   

[jybil178]

Ehh, I would just stick with normal Physical Immunity.  Otherwise, you start getting into some really weird things, that aren't really covered in either settings, and once you open the box, it just won't stay shut, until you put everything back in it.

And I was about to suggest the exact same thing for Wrath, a similar version of the power abby has, but using alertness, or some other very appropriate skill instead...  Because while Altertness may SEEM to be the best pick, I would ALSO peg Alertness to be what Abby used in the books as well, but that doesn't seem to be the case...

[jybil178]

The idea of Combat Cassandra's tears was for Wrath whose 'Ultimate Eye' could predict a persons next action a very short term precognition, actually haveing a limit of about 20 or so lifes to the mythic regeneration in the form of philospher stones is a nice idea, The earth manouvre idea is pretty good idea adding fragile aspect. 

Hehe, I'm glad you liked it...  I kinda enjoyed the idea of while the Mythic Recovery can even prevent them from dying, even when they don't "die", it is still taking away from their "Pool" of Red Stone energy...  Another simpler way of doing it, is simply saying that lets say, the current Homonculis in question only has 5 fully powered red stones within them... Translate that into an easy 100 shifts worth of recovery, with Mild taking 2 shifts to recover, Moderate 4, and Severe 6...  That makes for a monster of a combatant, even with only a true 5 stones worth of energy...  The catch, being once the energy is out, the target is about just as mortal as anyone else.  And normally, I wouldn't consider allowing a power to recover from being truly dead, but in reality, they were never alive to begin with, just a construct working off of the life energy of the Stones...  You wouldn't mind if I maybe used something like this in my own game, would you?

[bitterpill]

No  I wouldn't mind its a cool idea isn't it?

[Sanctaphrax]

And here's Wrath. He was fun to make, since he's got eleven stunts. You'll notice that he doesn't have Contacts or Resources worth spit. That's because I decided that Father was the one with those skills. If need be, Wrath can invoke his Born And Raised To Serve Father aspect to have Father make a Contacts or Resources roll for him.

Anyway, Wrath should be a serious threat to a Submerged party.

King Bradley (In A Submarine)

High Concept: Homunculus Fuhrer Of Amestris
Other Aspects: Getting Old, Loves His Wife, Born And Raised To Serve Father, Ultimate Eye, Cheerful Facade, Invincible Master Of The Sword
Skills:
Fantastic: Weapons, Alertness
Superb: Presence, Athletics
Great: Deceit, Rapport
Good: Endurance, Conviction, Empathy
Fair: Fists, Might, Discipline
Average: Lore, Investigation, Scholarship, Stealth, Intimidation
Stunts:
Secret Homunculus (Deceit): +2 to Deceit when hiding his true nature.
The Weight Of Reputation (Presence): May use Presence to intimidate as long as his identity is known.
Leadership (Presence): Leading a group is at +1 and happens one time increment faster.
At A Glance (Alertness): May use Alertness to perform a visual examination of the sort normally performed with Investigation.
A Few Seconds Ahead (Alertness): May use Alertness to defend against social attacks.
Master Of The Battlefield (Weapons): May use Weapons +1 to make assessments and declarations related to fighting.
Footwork (Weapons): May use Weapons to defend against ranged attacks.
Perfect Parry (Weapons): +2 to Weapons defence when armed with a sword.
Multi-Wielding (Weapons): May wield a second weapon and add half its weapon rating to that of his primary weapon.
Superior Multi-Wielding (Weapons): +1 to hit when wielding multiple weapons.
Master Of The Sword (Weapons): Attacks with swords inflict +2 stress.
Powers:
Marked By Power (Father/Amestris) [-1]
True Aim [-1]
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Ultimate Eye [-3?] Free tag every exchange in combat.
Total Refresh Cost:
-20
Refresh Total:
1