JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stands and Hamon

[TitaniumMan]

So I'm a big fan of this manga called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.  In the first two installments, humans use a martial art called Hamon to destroy vampires with life energy.  From the third installment onward, the focus shifts to Stands, spectral manifestations of a person's spirit that can attack enemies and use strange powers.  In future DFRPG games I'd like to play as either one of these types of characters - I think Hamon in particular would work great with the setting.  How might I go about doing that?

[Taran]

I know that some people use Modular abilities for different martial arts "stances" and to represent Ki powers (STR, Toughness, Spd etc...).  I think you'd want Holy Touch for sure to satisfy a vamps Catch.  Maybe your GM would let you have that power as part of Modular Abilities.  The pre-requisite is Righteousness, but that might fit the theme as well.

I'm not sure about Stands, though.  I'll think on that.  What kind of "strange Powers" are talking about?  For straight damage, it could be done with evocation/channeling, but with different "fluff" attached to it.

Also, you should check out the custom powers thread.  There might be something there.  I haven't gone through it at all...

[Sanctaphrax]

It would be helpful if you were to explain what Hamon and Stands can do, as well as how they work.

[TitaniumMan]

I'll go into more detail, then.  Hamon is a martial art that focuses around mastering the body and harnessing the power of the sun to fight vampires.  By controlling their breath, Hamon practicioners can enhance various biological aspects of their bodies, like nullifying pain or slightly extending limbs by disconnecting joints temporarily.  They can also infuse and transfer energy through objects.  Water is especially effective for this - Hamon is also known as "the ripple" since energy transfers like the ripples in a lake.  In the first demonstration of Hamon, a user was able to strike a frog sitting on the rock, transfering all of the power to the rock and shattering it, leaving the frog unharmed.  It's very effective against vampires and undead by transfering life energy into their bodies and destroying them.

Stands, meanwhile, are a manifestation of a person's spirit, said to be comprised of the same life energy Hamon users tap into.  It's called a Stand since the spirit stands next to you when it appears.  Only Stand users can see Stands, and they tend to subconciously attract each other.  Those who can't see Stands usually consider their activities to be paranormal, like upset ghosts haunting a house to use an example.  Stands are usually humanoid but can come in a variety of strange designs and configurations that represent the kind of spirit the user has.  Their powers usually reflect the user's hobbies or personality traits, but they manifest in strange ways.  Some of them include supernatural reflexes, freezing time, summoning small bodies to kick bullets towards targets, diving through ground as if it was sand, creating portals that can be unzipped via huge zippers, and so on.

Stands have several rules that govern them - only Stands can hurt Stands, any damage a Stand takes is transfered to the user as well, and they must be maintained with the user's breath.  Furthermore, just because a Stand can't be seen by normal people doesn't mean its powers can't manifest in the real world in a variety of ways.

[Sanctaphrax]

Hamon could be modeled as a combination of stunts, Holy Touch, and Natural Weaponry, but I think that Stands are going to be very difficult. Impossible, if you aren't willing to homebrew heavily.

I like to think that I'm fairly savvy when it comes to custom power design, but I don't know where to start with them.

[TitaniumMan]

Fair enough.  Stands cover a LOT of potential abilities, plus they can also interact with things at the user's command.  There isn't a custom power already statted up for summoning minions, maybe?

[Taran]

The only thing I can think of for stands is Toughness and recovery powers with the Catch being other Stands...which, depending on your setting would probably be +0.

The only other thing I can think of is a combination of evocation and "ghost speaker". 

You can do a lot with evocation which can be flavoured to work like stands.  Maybe a type of sponsored magic would work because, in effect, you're getting your powers through some kind of spirit.  It also gives you lots of flexibility with what you can do - like thaumaturgy at the speed of evocation.  Many of the powers you've mentionned could be done with sponsored magic.

Does one person have several Stands that can do different things?  How many Stands can a person tap into at once?

[TitaniumMan]

Does one person have several Stands that can do different things?  How many Stands can a person tap into at once?

It's usually one Stand per person, though there are Stands that can break up into multiple bodies.  One Stand was actually comprised of six tiny spirits, and another manifested itself as particles that the user could bake into food to make it tastier.  Other Stands have even manifested as mold or a radio tower.

[Sanctaphrax]

No custom power that I am aware of allows any such thing.

Thaumaturgy can be used for summoning, though.

And there are a couple of homebrew Contacts stunts that let you gather minions.

[Taran]

The more I think of it, the more I like sponsored magic.

Take Ghost Speaker or The Sight for flavour to "see" Stands.

Take sponsored magic and have the Theme be based on the Stand you want.  Mechanically, While it's your character doing the mojo, it can be described as your character controlling the Stand to do what you want.  You take mental stress as a result of using the "entity" and controling it with your breath. (also, that would be the flavour of your discipline roll to control the spell).

I don't know how to solve "attacking" the Stand and transferring damage to you.

What are Characters doing in combat while their Stands are going around doing crazy stuff?

[TitaniumMan]

What are Characters doing in combat while their Stands are going around doing crazy stuff?

Usually they're still trying to outmaneuver each other, find advantageous positions.  A huge part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure focuses on tactical battles.  Fights are rarely straight-up brawls - enemies usually know enough about their Stands to attack at the best time to take full advantage of their powers.  For example, one Stand could only manifest in shadows, so it struck during sunset when shadows were at their longest.  Heroic characters tend to have more straightforward Stands that can attack more directly, but clever enemies often work around this.

[13th~Nineteen]

Well I think the Stand does not need to be a seperate entity mechanically speaking. As mentioned in battles between stands, its the stands that do the fighting There would be no need for a seperate stress track since the Stand and the user both take the same damage. All you really need to cover it would be a decent aspect and a reskinned Human form.

There no decent way to make  a template for a Stand since its powers are so varied. The best thing would be you post up what you would like a stand to and then people figuring it out.

For a very simple example (Everything here is arbitrary so please don't worry about the powers):

HC: Stand User
T:I'm Generic
other Ascpects: Space Filling,  My Stamp Collection is my Life, Paste Pot Power

Powers:
+1 Stand Summoning (The Stand Must be Summoned to use the Powers below)
-3 Paste Powers ( Allows maneuvers for glue based manuevers and breath weapon [Weapon:1] that adds "Glued" aspect
-2 Stamp Soiree (May move freely between zones with stamps in them)

Stunts:  
-1 Stamp Collector (Allows for declarations about stamp based history and +2 for stamp identification [uses Scholarship])

The Stand manifests as a collections as a semi-dried glue skeletons with an odd bit of paper here and there that moves around the body.

[Sanctaphrax]

It seems to me that anything which doesn't model the Stand's semi-independent existance misses the point. Stamp guy there would work better as a shapeshifter than as a Stand User.

[Taran]

I'm just thinking off the top of my head, so I haven't really thought out the process...what if a Stand was an IoP?  Give it a bunch of powers and what-not.  You'd want to give it a toughness power or something because instead of making it indestructable, it would share the characters Physical stress box.  Maybe an extra discount on the IoP for that.  Although since Stands are invisible to most you'd lose the discount for "obvious item", so it'd even out.

[TitaniumMan]

I'm just thinking off the top of my head, so I haven't really thought out the process...what if a Stand was an IoP?  Give it a bunch of powers and what-not.  You'd want to give it a toughness power or something because instead of making it indestructable, it would share the characters Physical stress box.  Maybe an extra discount on the IoP for that.  Although since Stands are invisible to most you'd lose the discount for "obvious item", so it'd even out.

Mechanically, that might be the best way to approach it.