Aberrant RPG - Mega-Stamina Feats

[Sprocket]

Re: the last M-Sta 5 feat-

Here's a couple of ideas that I'm tossing out for half-serious consideration:

1- Can eat & digest "foodstuffs" that would make baseline humans sick. (Whether "sick" in this instance means nauseous, physically ill or poisoned has been left open for discussion.)

2- Immune to induced hibernation/suspended animation technologies. (I'm assuming that this covers being unwillingly placed in hibernation/suspended animation, like the Freezer prison from the Demolition Man movie.)

[Alex Green]

RE: Food

Standard Poison rolls probably deal with this, unless we're talking about "Matter Eater" lad.

RE: hibernation/suspended animation technologies.

In abby these would be defined as either poison or timestop.

[Sprocket]

Re: Food & hibernation ideas-

Fair enough, they were only half-serious ideas.

Re: A serious idea-

How about "unaffected by ingesting ground glass" for the last M-Sta 5 feat? Ground glass has been added to food (often in a form mimicking fine sugar crystals), whereupon being eaten it proceeds to tear up the victim's stomach & intestines to shreds. AFAIK the +3 lethal soak a Dynamo gets at M-Sta 5 applies to internal physical attacks as well.

[Alex Green]

Not sure. This might be a MStamina 1 thing, all you'd need is some soak.

[Sprocket]

Re: Ingested ground glass-

Let's see... According to my reference material, the damage caused by ingesting ground glass is pretty much equal to a knife wound from a person of average strength or less. It's the fact that the wound is on the inside, bleeds copiously & involves digestive fluids leaking into places they shouldn't that makes it a larger threat.

So we're talking 2 or 3 dice of Lethal damage. Is 1 extra point of lethal soak capable of letting a M-Sta 1 Dynamo shrug that off with ease?

[Alex Green]

How long does this take to occur? It's a long time, right?

...I suspect that you'd need a lethal soak of 2, making it M-Stam 3 (or Armor or INV:Physical).

[metaphysician]

Don't forget that novas get lethal soak from their base Stamina, too. Which means, if 2 lethal is enough soak to stop it, all you'd need is mega stamina 2 ( since that guarantees you at least 2 lethal soak ).

[Sprocket]

Re: Ingested ground glass-

How long does this take to occur? It's a long time, right?

Not long at all - anything a person swallows will hit the stomach pretty quick. Since it a strictly physical attack there's no onset time as for poisons and diseases.

Don't forget that novas get lethal soak from their base Stamina, too. Which means, if 2 lethal is enough soak to stop it, all you'd need is mega stamina 2 ( since that guarantees you at least 2 lethal soak).

Hate to say it, but the numbers I've just crunched support this being a M-Sta 2 or 3 feat, which we don't need any more of. And so another idea goes down in flames... ::laugh

[Alex Green]

Don't forget that novas get lethal soak from their base Stamina, too. Which means, if 2 lethal is enough soak to stop it, all you'd need is mega stamina 2 ( since that guarantees you at least 2 lethal soak ).

Thank you. Good catch.

[Sprocket]

So, what strictly physical threat do you two figure is worthy of a M-Sta 5 immunity feat?

[Alex Green]

What always kills someone but not instantly?

Nano-plagues?

How about blood? What happens to M-Stamina Nova blood that's given to someone else? Do we care at this point?

[metaphysician]

I wouldn't be opposed to saying that sufficient mega-stamina gives a nova's blood 'smart' properties, like "universal blood type compatibility" or "transferrable immune strength."

[Sprocket]

Re: Nanoweapons-

Looking at the only in-game example we have of such (DeVries Nanokill, Ab: Brainwaves p. 13), it says that novas must make a resistance roll at +4 difficulty each turn of exposure or take 1 HL of damage. The only canon antidote for it is DeVries hunter-killer nano. Adaptability doesn't give any defense against it. Frightening stuff, and the main reason for the "Nanotech Resistance" M-Sta enhancement from the Aberrant Compendium.

Immunity to nanoweapons would be at the high end of the M-Sta feats: 8 or 9, most likely. If no one objects, I'd like to write this idea up as such.

Re: Nova blood transfusions-

That's already been established AFA baselines - nova biochemistry tends to diverge quite a bit from the human baseline (pun intended), so baseline recipients go into toxic shock. There are exceptions, but you know about them - you came up with that particular BodyMod. ::sly

I wouldn't be opposed to saying that sufficient mega-stamina gives a nova's blood 'smart' properties, like "universal blood type compatibility" or "transferrable immune strength."

You're in luck! That BodyMod I mentioned that Alex came up with covers just this sort of thing.

AFA nova recipients, I'm ambivalent. My first impulse is to say "it can be done successfully, but not without a little risk from possible biochemistry differences/clashes between the donor & recipient". However, I admit that that might not strike the correct tone we're shooting for in this e-book.

EDIT: I've pegged the "immunity to nanoweapons" feat as M-Sta 8. Pegging it as a M-Sta 9 feat seemed like over-magnifying the threat of nanoweapons against what M-Sta 9 is/should be capable of.

[metaphysician]

For another topic thats tangentially related to the issue of Mega Stamina benchmarking, some thoughts I've had. . .

When looking at existing characters from comics, trying to figure out what abilities they have come from what 'source' by Aberrant terms is tough. Obviously the Hulk has considerable mega stamina, but what of his abilities are mega stamina, what are enhancements, and what are theme powers?

So, my rule of thumb: "The more susceptible a character is to sharp and pointy things, relative to their overall durability, the more of their soak comes from Mega Stamina and enhancements."

My reasoning is, Mega Stamina based soak, whether base or enhanced by Resiliency, has by far the biggest divergence between lethal and bashing soak of any form of defense. Sharp and pointy stuff, by definition, does lethal damage, and is usually contrasted to how they tolerate blunt force.

For example: Superman and Wonder Woman both have comparable tolerance to blunt force trauma, that is, bashing soak ( well, not *really*, but close enough for my example to stand ). Only Wonder Woman, however, is usually bothered by sharp pointy things ( wielded with less than Class 100 force, anyway ). Ergo, while their total bashing soak is comparable, most of Superman's comes from Armor or Invulnerability, whereas most of Wonder Woman's comes from Mega Stamina and Resiliency.

[Alex Green]

RE: Blood

Oops. Well, I guess it was a good idea.

RE: Sharp and Pointy

Agreed.

RE: Nano-weapons

If all you have to do is make a Res roll at +4 diff then anyone with MS6 is immune since they'll never fail the roll.

But someone with MS5 is rolling 10 normal dice and 1 mega and only needs one succ. I don't see game balance being effected by making it a normal feat at that point. Well, not unless we're planning on introducing other nano weapons that are worse than the DV one.

[metaphysician]

I'd be disinclined to, given that Rachel Alinsky is a Mega Int 5 scientific genius.

[Alex Green]

I'd be disinclined to, given that Rachel Alinsky is a Mega Int 5 scientific genius.

Yeah, but how many Mega-Stamina 5 novas are there out there? This stuff would work on Pax.

In effect she's created a super-enhanced nerve gas. That's fine, but nerve gas doesn't work on MS2. Upping the bar by 3 levels of Mega-Stamina is pretty huge by itself with the exponential increase in Resistance.

[Sprocket]

Re: Nanoweapon immunity-

But someone with MS5 is rolling 10 normal dice and 1 mega and only needs one succ

::confused AFAIK, having Mega-Stamina 5 gives a nova 5 Mega-dice plus a variable number of normal dice from base Stamina & the dots of Resistance (3 at minimum). Care to explain your statement?

OTOH, if you really want this feat pegged as M-Sta 5 (and can make it plausible to our audience) I've no problem with it. ::shrug Either way, it's one less empty slot to deal with.

[metaphysician]

Yeah, but how many Mega-Stamina 5 novas are there out there? This stuff would work on Pax.

In effect she's created a super-enhanced nerve gas. That's fine, but nerve gas doesn't work on MS2. Upping the bar by 3 levels of Mega-Stamina is pretty huge by itself with the exponential increase in Resistance.

What I mean is, I don't see there being anything *better* out there, because she's pretty much the biggest, scariest supergenius yet given canon stats, not counting Divis Mal ( whose not interested in making nanotech ). And given nanotech is her main focus, I don't see even another Mega Int 5er making stuff as good, unless he also specializes.

[Alex Green]

::confused AFAIK, having Mega-Stamina 5 gives a nova 5 Mega-dice plus a variable number of normal dice from base Stamina & the dots of Resistance (3 at minimum). Care to explain your statement?

It's a +4 Diff thing so you use 4 MS to reduce the difficulty to zero. That leaves you with 10 normal dice and one mega.

While we *could* apply the same type of logic to MS4 and then look at the rule of seven, he'd only be rolling 9 normal dice... which seems a little risky to me and this would be a high stress situation.

But still having megas left over after reducing the diff to zero implies, at least to me, that you're way over whatever passes as the line here.

[Sprocket]

I understand using 4 of the Mega-Dice to eliminate the difficulty penalty. What I'm not getting is this part: "That leaves you with 10 normal dice & 1 mega-die". Eight normal dice are accounted for in the rules (required base Stamina of 5 + the 3 free dots of Resistance). Where are you getting the extra 2 normal dice?

But still having megas left over after reducing the diff to zero implies, at least to me, that you're way over whatever passes as the line here.

Fair enough. As I said before, I've no problem making "immunity to nanoweapons" a M-Sta 5 feat.

[Alex Green]

If you have M-Stam 5 you also have a Resist of 5.

[Sprocket]

Re: M-Sta 5 benefits-

Just dug out my copy of the core book & checked the listing, you're correct. A M-Sta5 feat it is, then. Now we can concentrate on feats for M-Sta 7+.

Re: Alinsky's competence-

Perhaps metaphysician is getting Dr. Alinsky's undeniable competence mixed up with what the current "state of the art" is AFA her nanotech's capabilities? The early pioneers of computer technology were plenty smart & competent, but their "state of the art" was unbelievably primitive by RL 2008 standards. Dr. Alinsky is attempting to develop nanotechnology all by her lonesome AFAICT. Her having Mega-Int 5 & the backing of DeVries helps out, but she has no real colleagues/rivals in the field to help push back the boundaries of what Nova Age nanotech is capable of.

[metaphysician]

And nonetheless, she's Mega Int 5, maxed out scientific genius, specializing in nanotechnology.

I hold to my statement, that nobody else whose not superior in intellect should be hauling out better nanotech weapons anytime soon.

[Sprocket]

Re: Current feat listings-

Here's the chart as of 5-16. The listings for M-Sta 1 through 4 are unchanged from the last revision, & will not be reposted for the time being. Also I'm considering the listings for M-Sta 5 & 6 to have also been finished, so after this posting they won't be reposted anytime soon either.

Mega-Stamina 5

• Completely exhaust at least 224 baseline sexual partners in a single session.

• Engage in nonstop hand-to-hand combat for nine days and eight hours.

• Immune to Ebola fever, Marburg fever and Pneumatic plague.

• Immune to the effects of nanoweapons such as DeVries Nanokill (see Aberrant: Brainwaves).

• Sprint continuously for 18 hours and 40 minutes.

Mega-Stamina 6

• Can shrug off being hit by a semi.

• Immune to bioweapons such as weaponized tularemia, Machupo virus and smallpox.

• May heal aggravated damage as lethal damage, albeit at 5 dot ratings lower than normal.

• Recover from crippling injuries in 23 days.

• Swim across the Pacific Ocean nonstop.

Mega-Stamina 7

• Immune to infectious prions, such as the ones that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Fatal familial insomnia and Kuru.

• Sprint continuously for four days, 21 hours and 20 minutes.

• Stay awake for three Terran standard years, ten months and 13 days straight.

• x.

• x.

Mega-Stamina 8

• Engage in nonstop hand-to-hand combat for 34 days and 16 hours.

• Immune to weaponized infectious prions.

• x.

• x.

• x.

Mega-Stamina 9

• Stay awake for 21 Terran standard years and 15 days straight.

• Sprint continuously for 26 days and 16 hours.

• x.

• x.

• x.

Mega-Stamina 10

• Completely exhaust at least 17,408 baseline sexual partners in a single session.

• Engage in nonstop hand-to-hand combat for 181 days and eight hours.

• Recover from crippling injuries in 15 days.

• x.

We've only got nine high-caliber feats left to come up with, so bring in your ideas for such if you've got them. Since we're talking about the upper range of Mega-Stamina, the feat ideas can (and hopefully will) be suitably outrageous.

[metaphysician]

Hmm. . .

Mega Stamina 10: "Continue fighting despite being killed. Stamina roll each round, +1 difficulty per health level of damage beyond 'Dead'."

[SkyLion]

That would be kinda cool even at lower levels...

[Alex Green]

RE: Alinsky

She's also an expert on Nova Medical stuff. In Trinity you might find someone better with nano but they aren't going to have access to nova medical info.

RE: Feats

...

[Sprocket]

Mega Stamina 10: "Continue fighting despite being killed. Stamina roll each turn, +1 difficulty per health level of damage beyond 'Dead'."

::biggrin Yes, that's a good example of the caliber of feats I was talking about. However, I don't think it merits being pegged as M-Sta 10 since it's stated as using a "roll per turn" basis. It seems dreadfully underpowered for M-Sta 10.

Instead, I see this working better as a theme idea for 4 feats, with increasing time intervals as the dot rating rises. Starting at M-Sta 7 it'd be "roll per turn" just like metaphysician suggested. At M-Sta 8 this would rise to "roll per minute", with "roll per hour" at M-Sta 9 & "roll per day" at M-Sta 10.

If this idea passes muster, that's 4 slots filled *AND* we won't have to wrack our brains coming up with any more M-Sta 10 feats. Your thoughts? ::smile

Re: Alinsky-

Add in the fact that nanotech R&D is heavily controlled & stigmatized by the 2120's, and the odds are stacked even higher against anyone topping Alinsky's work until about the 2500s or so. Aeon & China do have a "destroy upon discovery" policy for aberrant tech AFAIK.

[Sprocket]

Re: The "Yes, I'm dead - I just haven't stopped moving yet" feat-

Just got this idea hammered out & polished up into the 4 feats mentioned in my previous post. So, do they pass muster or is more tinkering required?

Mega-Stamina 7

• Keep performing some task (such as fighting) past the point of death by making a Stamina roll each turn, with a +1 difficulty penalty per health level of damage taken beyond "Dead". Actual death is only delayed until the dynamo is physically obliterated, fails a Stamina roll or completes the task.

Mega-Stamina 8

• Keep performing some task (such as fighting) past the point of death by making a Stamina roll each minute, with a +1 difficulty penalty per health level of damage taken beyond "Dead". Actual death is only delayed until the dynamo is physically obliterated, fails a Stamina roll or completes the task.

Mega-Stamina 9

• Keep performing some task (such as fighting) past the point of death by making a Stamina roll each hour, with a +1 difficulty penalty per health level of damage taken beyond "Dead". Actual death is only delayed until the dynamo is physically obliterated, fails a Stamina roll or completes the task.

Mega-Stamina 10

• Keep performing some task (such as fighting) past the point of death by making a Stamina roll each day, with a +1 difficulty penalty per health level of damage taken beyond "Dead". Actual death is only delayed until the dynamo is physically obliterated, fails a Stamina roll or completes the task.

[Alex Green]

Define "physically obliterated"

[metaphysician]

I would leave that off, honestly. Doing additional damage to the victim eventually results in the penalty exceeding their ability to make the roll, anyway.

[Alex Green]

We're opening up a can of worms here. Not that this is a bad thing, but still.

What happens if the nova is healed back up above "dead"?

Does he need to re-roll every time he take more damage (for sanity sake I'd say yes).

[metaphysician]

Well, for a slightly unrelated optional rule. . .

'Beyond the Brink' - "Just because someone is dead, doesn't mean they have to stay that way. Heart attack victims may have no heart beat for minutes, and yet still be revived. . . and nova powers allow for even more miraculous recoveries."

"When a person, baseline or nova, is reduced to Dead status, there is a length of time equal to Stamina + Mega Stamina turns before the person becomes irrecoverable. During this time, suitable medical or healing treatment can restore the individual to Incapacitated status. The treatment method has to suitable to the cause of death; a victim of cardiac arrest can be restored with CPR or defibrillation, but not someone suffering physical trauma. Generally, Healing works on any injury or condition."

"Excess damage that would put the victim beyond Dead reduces this grace period on a one turn per level basis, whether inflicted in the initial attack or afterwards."

Thoughts?

[SkyLion]

Sounds good MP with one problem. IN the setup you mention baselines having their heart stopped for minutes. But according to your system a PC with Stam 5 plus M Stam 5 would have 10 turns of recovery time...this is only 30 seconds. Change turns to minutes and its more in line with Mega Stamina IMHO.

[Alex Green]

RE: Stamina + Mega Stamina

Should be: Stamina + 2x Mega Stamina

IN the setup you mention baselines having their heart stopped for minutes. But according to your system a PC with Stam 5 plus M Stam 5 would have 10 turns of recovery time...this is only 30 seconds.

IMHO the issue is with "turns". If we're talking about someone getting shot in the head, then "turns" is probably right. If we're talking about a heart attack or drowning in ice cold water, then some other interval is probably right.

[metaphysician]

Hmm, maybe change it to "Turns ( or minutes, in the case of causes of death that do not cause major physical trauma to the body, such as cardiac arrest or hypothermia )".

[Alex Green]

There're going to be too many factors to make a solid rule on.

Just make it "turns, minutes, or whatever the ST deems is appropriate"

[metaphysician]

There're going to be too many factors to make a solid rule on.

Just make it "turns, minutes, or whatever the ST deems is appropriate"

Sounds about right, though I'd keep Turns as the floor time unit.

( for the curious, something like this is a house rule used in the Ancient Aberrant campaign. . . for which we can all be quite glad of )

[Sprocket]

Re: "Physically obliterated"-

I had in mind things like serious tissue destruction, eg. stuff such as getting one's head blown to tiny bits. But if you folks think it should be deleted, I'm happy to oblige.

Re: feat questions-

What happens if the nova is healed back up above "dead"?

Unless the healer can literally bring people back from clinically and/or "as a doornail" dead, I'm inclined to say that this couldn't/shouldn't happen. My thinking is that a Dynamo who winds up in this variety of dire straits is pretty much guaranteed to die in the (possibly quite) near future - it's only a matter of time.

Does he need to re-roll every time he take more damage (for sanity sake I'd say yes).

Agreed - I'd have spelled it out but mistakenly assumed it to be implicit. That error will be fixed immediately.

Revised versions of the 4 feats will be posted ASAP.

Re: "Beyond the Brink"-

This sounds like a very nice tidbit to follow the Mega-Stamina feat chart. Thanks for posting it, metaphysician. ::biggrin