Statting Up Worm Characters

[Sanctaphrax]

That one comes across as more of a defensive block against lightning. If you're starting him up with Incite Effect, he probably just did a bunch of maneuvers to get it blocking Behemoth's evocations. Or his Dangerous Aura, maybe.

Sounds about right to me.

Also, Gray Boy Aspect: YOUR SUFFERING IS MY SATISFACTION

Added.

[narphoenix]

Two things:

How's Golem coming? And could you stat Moord Nag?

[Sanctaphrax]

No progress. I've had other things to do, and it wasn't a priority.

As for Moord Nag, maybe. We don't know much about her, so it's hard to be sure how to stat her.

Like...can she send her shadow far away from her? Why is she still alive, if she's a normal human apart from the shadow? What does she get out of having her shadow consume people?

[narphoenix]

No progress. I've had other things to do, and it wasn't a priority.

As for Moord Nag, maybe. We don't know much about her, so it's hard to be sure how to stat her.

Like...can she send her shadow far away from her? Why is she still alive, if she's a normal human apart from the shadow? What does she get out of having her shadow consume people?

The first seems to be a no, but she can extend it greatly (depending on circumstance, i.e. how many people has she eaten, I guess). I don't understand the second question: a shadow is not essential for life. Power, but that's admittedly vaguely defined.

Hm. Based on what we've seen of her, I'd give her Dangerous Mutual Conductive Damage Shield (with possible upgrades to Lethal and Reflective, depending on how many people she's eaten recently), an Immunity that starts at against life forms and scales up depending on how many people she's eaten (possibly up to Total Immunity for 5000 lives and above, based on what she said about taking on an Endbringer). Ranged Natural Weaponry (with a whole bunch of upgrades) + Strength (again scaling on how many people she's eaten) also seems to be in the cards. Possibly an All Creatures and Objects are Equal Before Me, again Limited based on how many people she's eaten. She needs a High Concept of THE NAMBIAN WAR LADY and a Trouble Aspect of (very minor spoilers for Speck) CANNOT STAND TO LOSE CONTROL.

EDIT: Oh, and Dangerous Aura. Forgot about that one.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't understand the second question: a shadow is not essential for life.

Basically, why hasn't she been shot?

If she sends her shadow after someone smart, they're not going to waste attacks on it. They're gonna try and kill her. Given how many people she's fought and beaten, why have none of them tagged her with something lethal?

Is she just a really lucky dodger?

Anyway, it sounds like you have a plan for her. Why not write her up herself?

[narphoenix]

Basically, why hasn't she been shot?

If she sends her shadow after someone smart, they're not going to waste attacks on it. They're gonna try and kill her. Given how many people she's fought and beaten, why have none of them tagged her with something lethal?

Is she just a really lucky dodger?

Anyway, it sounds like you have a plan for her. Why not write her up herself?

She has Damage Shield and Dangerous Aura to represent her Shadow. And she could probably eat a bunch of peons to power up before going up against someone smart/powerful/both. And her shadow could probably cover for her (maybe giving her Toughness too: damn, she's a scary lady).

Time. I might end up doing so, but I can't right now.

[Sanctaphrax]

Even if touching the shadow is dangerous and it can shield her, there are plenty of Blasters and Shakers who could kill her pretty easily. I'm thinking she might have something else up her sleeve.

[narphoenix]

Even if touching the shadow is dangerous and it can shield her, there are plenty of Blasters and Shakers who could kill her pretty easily. I'm thinking she might have something else up her sleeve.

They couldn't kill her easily, at least, not before she eats them. She's probably smart enough to just walk in prepared. Tattle did describe her as the Undersiders writ large.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't think that would be enough. No matter how smart you are, stray bullets can find you. And there are a lot of capes with non-dodge-able attacks. If they see you and you're not a Brute/Breaker, they can kill you.

Maybe she can hide inside the shadow. Or maybe she can send it out to kill people while hiding in a fort.

[narphoenix]

I don't think that would be enough. No matter how smart you are, stray bullets can find you. And there are a lot of capes with non-dodge-able attacks. If they see you and you're not a Brute/Breaker, they can kill you.

Maybe she can hide inside the shadow. Or maybe she can send it out to kill people while hiding in a fort.

I don't put it past her to have her shadow surrounding her if she needs it (hence Toughness). In fact, the only attack I can recall that would unerringly hit her even if her shadow surrounds her is Lily's, which would be what's /supposed/ to happen. I remember Butcher had something similar, but again, shadow could probably cover her. Oh, and she needs Wings, because her shadow can pick her up and move her around, which gives her tons of mobility.

[Sanctaphrax]

Grey Boy could get her through the shadow. So could Cherish. But they're both among the more unfair characters in Worm.

[narphoenix]

Grey Boy could get her through the shadow. So could Cherish. But they're both among the more unfair characters in Worm.

Grey Boy is bullshit and Cherish is mental attack. She's probably somewhat weak to mental assault anyway (see how she's the first to crumble in Speck).

But you're forgetting her location. Being a parahuman is /heavily/ selected against where she's from. Most of them are immolated/shot/decapitated. By normals.

[Sanctaphrax]

The fact that ordinary people in her neighbourhood want to kill her just makes her survival even more puzzling.

Grey Boy is bullshit and Cherish is mental attack. She's probably somewhat weak to mental assault anyway (see how she's the first to crumble in Speck).

Someone in her area must have mental attack powers. But she's still alive.

And then there are the Strangers. How does she avoid being ganked by someone like Nice Guy or Imp or Valefor?

PS: There are actually more parahumans in the third world than anywhere else. Says so early in the story.

[narphoenix]

The fact that ordinary people in her neighbourhood want to kill her just makes her survival even more puzzling.

Someone in her area must have mental attack powers. But she's still alive.

And then there are the Strangers. How does she avoid being ganked by someone like Nice Guy or Imp or Valefor?

PS: There are actually more parahumans in the third world than anywhere else. Says so early in the story.

Yes, but ordinary people get eaten passively and the large number of parahumans in the third world aren't the same parahumans each week. They change over from one to the next to the next without much effort. So I can't imagine they're very well trained in their powers' nuances.

Plus, while she may not have any equals, do you put it past her to have underlings with powers? I wouldn't.

But all the same, I might be inclined to give her a Supernatural Sense for life. It would let her keep anyone from getting the drop on her and fits her concept.

[PirateJack]

So I'm running a Worm RPG and I've been using the Tinker power developed by Stirge pretty extensively to model, well, Tinkers. The rules work quite well and don't appear to be any more powerful than standard power usage is, but I can't help but feel that it could do with some more work.

More specifically, I'm not sure about Encryption and the distinction between Element/Non-Standard Element from the Complexity list. Encryption is probably meant to mimic the Ward keys from DF Canon, which work as a white list for usage. The Element conundrum is more problematic, because I don't see any real difference between the standard elements and things like Sonic or Electricity. That makes the cost difference something of a problem in my eyes.

Personally I'd go with averaging out the cost to 1 point per element, no matter what it is. Does that sound reasonable?

For the Power list we started with no cost listing for Duration, so I assigned it 1 point per extra round of duration. Not sure this is enough, to be honest. Other than that I'm fairly good with the costs for Power and with the range of effects you can choose from.

The size limit is good too, but it kinda constrains you to always have some points in size decrease, which limits the amount of points you can spend on other things in the Complexity list.

Anyone got any ideas for how to improve this?