Statting Up Worm Characters

[PirateJack]

Hmm, point. I'll give it some thought and edit in some improvements.

[Sanctaphrax]

I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Taran]

Why not make it a threshold value?  Any power/spell affecting hatchet face must over come a threshold of "x".  So speed powers would be reduced or strength.  Spells and ranged abilities would equally be reduced.  It needs a bit of refinement but it seems to suit the theme of the power.

Edit: I just repeated another post...but a threshold goes deeper than a block because it suppresses powers.

So, if hatchet face has a power of 4, any power directly affecting him would be lowered by 4.

a punch using Supernatural stength would be negated while mythic would have the effects of Inhuman.

A lazer blast (breath weapon) would have no effect because it's 2 refresh worth of powers.

[Sanctaphrax]

It's never been clear to me exactly how thresholds are meant to work.

But if you think you can write a good Power using their mechanics, please do. Just be sure to make it clear how the Power is meant to work.

And bear in mind that Hatchet Face's power affects powers not aimed at him, too. Everyone nearby has their powers negated.

[PirateJack]

Okay, here's my improvement. I've decided to go for a full character sheet this time.

(click to show/hide)

Hatchet Face (In a Submarine)

High Concept: Member of the Slaughterhouse Nine
Trouble Aspect: Bonesaw Clone
Other Aspects: I Must Serve Jack Slash
Skills:
Superb: Presence
Great: Fists, Weapons
Good: Discipline, Endurance, Athletics
Fair: Alertness, Craftsmanship, Deceit, Might
Average: Burglary, Conviction, Deceit, Empathy, Survival
Stunts:
The Weight of Reputation (Presence): Use Presence instead of Intimidation when trying to scare people, but only if they know who you are.
Monkey with a Wrench (Craftsmanship): When using Craftsmanship to break things gain +1 on the effort and do it one time increment faster.
No Pain, No Gain (Endurance): Gain one additional mild physical consequence.
Prefers Heavy Weaponry (Weapons): Gain +1 to Weapons when using weapons that could not be lifted by a normal person.
Powers:
Supernatural Strength [-4]
Supernatural Toughness [-4]
Power Negation [-5]
Limitation (Does not apply to Tinker-made devices) [+2]
Immunity (Power based Manoeuvres and Blocks against his person) [-4]
Immunity (Powers that would usually ignore his Power) [-4]
Total Refresh Cost:
-22
Refresh Total:
-6

(click to show/hide)

Power Negation [-5]
Description: Your mere presence disrupts the powers of others, to an extent.
Skills Affected: Presence
Effects:
Shard Symbiosis: You are more in-tune with your Shard than most, giving you a +5 bonus to Presence when establishing your power upon a zone.
Proximity Nullification: All actions utilising a power within the same zone as you face a block equal to your Presence rating (plus bonuses).
Null Field: All actions directly utilising a power that would affect the zone you are in face a border equal to your Presence rating (plus bonuses).

I think that just about covers it. I couldn't think up much more than that for his aspects since he really doesn't have much of a personality. After Bonesaw's treatment in the first S9 attack he was basically an automaton, but even in the last S9 arc he was the quiet type.

I based Power Negation's cost on Incite Effect, since this is basically a passive version of it. I also figured that since it's passive it would better fit on Presence than Intimidation or Discipline. As I said, he doesn't have much of a personality, but he does command a lot of fear just by being who he is. It also handily solves the problem of him having a low Discipline rating, since he doesn't have to actively control it. It's just there.

(click to show/hide)

On top of that, he's also immune to Foil's bolts, which gives him two Immunity powers. Not so sure I got the costs right on those, but this is a draft version so I'm willing to wing it on this one. He'd never be a Player Character anyway; way too much refresh necessary for it.

[Sanctaphrax]

Mm. I dunno. Ignoring all balance concerns...

This version still has issues with non-action Powers. When Hatchet Face shows up in an area that contains Lung and Watch fighting each other, then Lung becomes human-sized. Watch becomes able to meaningfully hurt Lung with a gun. If Lung is flying, he falls to the ground. Watch can no longer use his Speed when dodging Lung's attacks.

This Power doesn't cover any of that.

And Presence doesn't seem appropriate, to me. It's a social skill, I don't think it has anything to do with power-negation.

PS: I don't think Hatchet Face is immune to Powers used from outside his aura. Foil killed Tyrant, and Cherish killed the original, so I think he's vulnerable to ranged attacks.
PPS: I'm not commenting on Hatchet Face's stats right now, since I'm more concerned with his special Power.

[PirateJack]

Hmm, good points. This calls for more thought!

[Hick Jr]

I think that your writeup is looking good, PirateJack. I'm not incredibly familiar with the threshold mechanics, but i think it's along those lines.


So i'm guessing an even semi-accurate writeup of The Siberian (who honestly has the coolest name in the wormverse) is completely impossible without some kind of 8 Refresh Strength power that basically does what Physical Immunity does for Toughness?


In case that was unclear, this is what I meant, in the form of a really rough write-up.

LEGENDARY STRENGTH [-8]
Description:Your strength is the kind of thing out of myths, because you are unrealistically strong. Things like actual gods of strength and war, extremely old giants, and elder earth elementals might have this power.
Musts:Legendary Strength replaces all other levels of Strength if taken.
Skills Affected:Might, other physical skills.
Effects:
Legendary Lifting: Whenever lifting or breaking inanimate objects, you gain +24 to your roll.
Ridiculous Strength: Roll Might at +4 whenever using that skill in conjunction with grappling. This also allows you to inflict a 5-stress hit as a supplemental action during a grapple.
Godlike Strength: Whenever using your Might to modify another skill, it always provides +4 regardless of it's comparison of your Might score to the actual skill in question.
Annihilating Blows: With attacks that depend on muscular force (Fists, Weapons, etc.), you are at +8 to damage, increasing the stress dealt by 8 on a successful hit.



Because I can't think of a single thing that a base roll of twenty-four doesn't lift or break, this might work for the "unstoppable force" aspect of her power. Her Physical Immunity is easy, but I'm not sure how to model her ability to extend it to everything she touches.

[Sanctaphrax]

I think you'll have better luck with Hatchet Face if you don't connect his power to any skill.

I dunno if another level of Strength is really required for the Siberian. What does (s)he do that Mythic Strength wouldn't be sufficient for?

[Hick Jr]

Yeah, having the power-negation not attached to a skill is a good idea.


Slam through Physical Immunity, for one. Base rolls of +12 lift/break almost everything, but I thought that that wasn't really sufficient for someone who could theoretically chew through fifteen feet of titanium.

[Sanctaphrax]

I was thinking that an upgraded All Creatures Are Equal Before God could cover the "go through everything" schtick. Bump the cost up to maybe 9 Refresh and remove the FP cost.

And since durable objects can sometimes be represented with armour and Toughness Powers, it'd be easy to adjust that Power so that it affects objects.

[Hick Jr]

Nine refresh is a lot. I would price a no-FP version of ACaEBG at six or seven Refresh.

[Sanctaphrax]

Well, there's room for disagreement here. But always-on ACaEBG is really really powerful, so I'm inclined to err on the side of a higher cost.

The base cost of the power is 3 or 4 Refresh. I think 4 is a bit more likely, since I think Holy is probably free. The Swords as a whole cost 5 before the rebate and True Aim probably costs 1, so the question is whether Holy costs 0 or 1. I'm inclined to go with 0, since I'd let someone have a holy item without them spending Refresh on it.

(I know I assumed it cost 3 on Lily's character sheet. She was strapped for Refresh, and ACaEBG costing 3 is a valid interpretation so I went with it.)

Anyway, I figured that using ACaEBG constantly would probably cost a combat character about half a dozen FP each session on average, once you factor in zombie mobs and other such threats. But using ACaEBG on everything isn't the best idea, so a small discount seemed appropriate.

That's how I got a cost of 9 Refresh. It's still cheaper than Mythic Toughness + Recovery, which it trumps utterly, so I don't think it's too overpriced.

PS: There's a Power-nullifying Power over on the Custom Power thread. Go take a look if that sort of thing interests you.

[Hick Jr]

Upon a reread, I feel like Numerical Prodigy should provide a bit more of a combat bonus. I mean, in the Number Man's interlude and all of his combat appearances, he's clearly using his power to aid his combat effectiveness (meticulous dodges, ricocheting sniper shots, etc).

[Sanctaphrax]

That's all FP and Declarations and Precognition, way I see it.

PS: In case someone here doesn't know, there's a Worm PBP game in the works.