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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: jalrin on January 12, 2013, 12:06:25 AM
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I am planning a new scenario for the DFRPG group that I am GMing, and the upcoming sessions will be some of the first where my PCs will be seriously interacting with a group of shape-shifters who (depending on what my players do) could be either friends or foes. My question is this: what kinds of catches make sense for were-bears or other shape-shifters with a toughness power? They are supposed to have one, but I am having trouble figuring out what it is.
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I would do something like "Bullet through the heart" or "Beheading". Assuming there isn't some special substance (like silver) that will kill your particular were forms. I'm sure heart destruction and decapitation will kill just about anything and put your Catch at +0
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One catch I use for things that are just physically tough is: Necromantic powers & some forms of diseases and poisons - anything that directly attacks the life-force of the creature, rather than representing raw physical damage. Depending on how common such things are in your setting, this could be anywhere from a +0 to +2 catch - it's certainly not something anyone could get, but it might (or might not) be reasonably available to some decently large groups of opponents, and it's unlikely to be a well-known obvious thing, but it might (or might not) be possible to work out with some research.
For recovery, there's always the ghoul catch: once it's dead, it stays dead. Doesn't really work for toughness, though.
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One catch I use for things that are just physically tough is: Necromantic powers & some forms of diseases and poisons - anything that directly attacks the life-force of the creature, rather than representing raw physical damage. Depending on how common such things are in your setting, this could be anywhere from a +0 to +2 catch - it's certainly not something anyone could get, but it might (or might not) be reasonably available to some decently large groups of opponents, and it's unlikely to be a well-known obvious thing, but it might (or might not) be possible to work out with some research.
There have been like a billion topics on this and this is the best idea I've heard from any of them.
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My Were character has the catch "Things That Should Not Be" (things like demons, Outsiders, etc) to indicate that his nature is directly opposed by the unnaturalness of his foes.
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I had a PC who was playing a Totem Warrior character who was conceived as a protector of his tribe. His PC had a Catch of obsidian weapons and any member of his tribe. So if he ever betrayed his oath then his people would be able to hunt him down and deal with him. He only got a +1 for it (or was it 2?) but I thought it was a nice touch adding to his character.
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There have been like a billion topics on this and this is the best idea I've heard from any of them.
Speaking of which, here's a link to a discussion of this topic that contains links to more discussions of this topic:
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31624.0.html (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31624.0.html)
Personally I'm not a huge fan of the necromantic energy Catch, since I imagine big things have more life force. That's just personal opinion though.
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Big things might, sure, but that's not necessarily what we were talking about here. Honestly, it really depends on what you're going for.
For a different perspective, a reasonable big thing catch might be +1: Radiation, and other penetrating effects where being bigger just exposes you to more of the effect. (This is +1 on the assumption that wizards - a reasonably large category of supernatural individuals - could probably pull of some sort of relevant evocation if they knew the catch. If you cut the catch down to just radiation, that'd probably be a +0.)
Or it might be +2 to +4: Any area effect attack - hunting mammoths with spears kinda sucks; hunting mammoths with grenades or maybe ballistae or by dropping really big rocks on their heads from a clifftop, on the other hand...
I could see deciding that were-creatures just have more "vitality" than other things and that the stuff-that-attacks-lifeforce catch isn't appropriate for them, though. However, once you're dealing with supernatural vitality, then, imo, you're probably also dealing with something with a more traditional supernatural catch - silver, or the like.
Depends what the GM is going for, really.
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I had a PC who was playing a Totem Warrior character who was conceived as a protector of his tribe. His PC had a Catch of obsidian weapons and any member of his tribe. So if he ever betrayed his oath then his people would be able to hunt him down and deal with him. He only got a +1 for it (or was it 2?) but I thought it was a nice touch adding to his character.
I'm designing a similar character and I've been breaking my teeth trying to figure out an appropriate Catch for him. That's perfect.