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Aberrant RPG - Testing the waters.


Wakinyan

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No you don't need to make two. Basically what I am trying to say is there where two events in your short life as a Nova. 1. your standard eruption per the book.(something you will write about anyway you like) 2. The event that begins the game. (something that will begin the game and you wont really have details before hand)

What is only relevant is your sheet at game start. What I would like for everyone to keep in mind though in character back story is. To start off with you seemed "Normal" enough as a any other recent eruptee. But by the time game starts things will have changed and that will be explained in the story itself.

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I am thinking about redoing the whole Dominate, Disrupt thing and giving hima broader focus in other powers.... (though I'm not sure what, maybe some Mega strength or Force Field).

If I don't like how that turns out I'm going to make somthing along the lines of Zulu-Tango in Worldwide phase 1. A supersonic flying missle... sounds like fun heh.

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OK, now that I know what's going on with the character design process, I've decided to redo my character quite a bit. Forget the Morning Star character, let me introduce N.V. ('Envy').

Nathan Vincent was a frustrated Grad student, trying to get into the field of advanced computers. He wasn't the best or the brightest, mainly he got lucky a few times, and he's not ashamed to admit it, used pity to advance along. That only got him so far, and inevitably, luck and pity ran out. His grades weren't good enough to keep him in school, he was in debt up to his eyeballs, and his girlfriend (who had been helping him all along) decided that he really was just a loser, and told him so before she dumped him brutally hard.

Nathan reflected on his pathetic life on top of the roof of his apartment building and lamented how everyone else had it so easy. Consumed with envy and self-pity, he stepped to the edge and began working up the nerve to jump. Instead he got a splitting headache and collapsed onto the roof. Hours later he woke up, changed completely. Everything about him was improved in every conceivable way. All of the skills and abilities he knew were improved to a master's competence; he had taken a Martial Arts course in college (and failed it), yet now he was far superior to his teacher. He had an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge and skill, and with a demon's speed began reading libraries empty and opnet articles til he ran out of them. All of these consumed articles, books, interviews, how-to pamphlets, and anything else he read was absorbed and retained, and soon he became a master at almost anything he tried to do.

After two weeks of this cram session, he started to slow down in his fervor and retention, sleep was finally starting to take its demands on him. He theorized with his now enhanced intelligence that he had erupted, and that his eruption had come from a kind of identity crisis, coupled with his envy and self-pity (which he hasn't completely gotten over at this point) he believes he tapped into the 'Universal Unconscious' that some alternative scientists believe in. While tapped into it he accessed what many Baselines would consider to be the ideal human. That would explain why he was physically perfect (for a Baseline), a social dynamo (for a Baseline), and a mental prodigy (for a Baseline). He cursed himself for being a fool. He had had an extended eruption where he changed himself to what most Baselines considered to be perfect, if he had only figured that out sooner he would have tried to tap into what Novas considered to be a perfect Nova and thus become a God!

As he suspected his eruption was nearing an end, and with his last bit of enhanced retention capabilities he learned the rudiments of disguise. He figured he'd need it for his next step in evolution. He first contacted his old girlfriend, and the new him was more than enough to sweep her off her feet again. She did him a favor and got him a job at an MR Facility, where he hoped he could get access to Novas and maybe tap into the Nova Unconscious.

He hacked into the Opnet and managed to erase some of the records on himself, he also published a few papers with some anonymity, as well as a short novel. These were sold quickly, but managed to get him out of debt (and then some), and also (should he desire) prove that he is a doctor in a variety of fields.

With all of his enhancements, wisdom and experience are still lacking a bit. He started working as a janitor at the MR facility in _____ and was caught while going through confidential files. They inially assumed he was an extraordinarily talented Baseline, for how long he managed to evade even his Nova pursuers, but were quite happy when they found out his nature. They offered him a chance, they wouldn't press charges if he joined a new project they were working on; Project Nephilim. Unsure of how much choice he had, he took them up on their offer, as it should still give him access to Novas and his plans.

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Eric Nyden erupted a month before graduation at the University of Texas, he is 23. Eric is a handsome, athletic, 5'11" male with blond hair and blue eyes.

Eric grew up in a fairly typical suburbia household in Texas. His mom was Mexican-American and a nurse. His dad was a lawyer. His mom was a very devout woman and she made sure the family was as well. Then she died when he was 13. Eric and his father took it hard, and largely blamed god. Eric turned to school (math, science, & boxing) while his dad turned to his work.

Eric was that rarest of things, the smart jock. He went to college on an athletic scholarship and got a decent education. He was thinking about grad school when things got strange. After his second day of suffering with an aspirin-proof, killer headache, Eric decided to drown his pain in alcohol. After getting totally plastered, he was smart enough not to drive himself home. The bad news was his friend was just as drunk as he was. The car went off the road and crashed into an old style church. Eric was thrown from the car and went flying head first at fifty miles an hour into a large stone angel.

For one timeless moment, the angel filled his vision and his senses were overwhelmed with the sheer speed of the entire event. Then he erupted, turned to light, and was suddenly flying miles away. Although his eruption had dealt with his immediate problem, he was injured almost immediately afterwards when he slammed through a building. It was fairly obvious what had happened, and when he woke up it was in a medical facility at a Utopia testing center.

Eric erupted with various Angelic powers. He could transform into light and instantly move from one place to another. He could also transform into his aspect which would greatly increase his strength and gave him the power to fly. God's Armor protected him both physically and mentally. A bit of God's perfection attached to him, although the best of mortals could still exceed him.

For Eric, the really annoying thing is that he isn't (wasn't?) a true believer, that was lost when his mom died 10 years ago.. The scientist part of him thinks it isn't his fault if his subconscious is still a religious nut. The rest of him wonders.

After the "clinic", under circumstances yet to be revealed, Eric erupted a second time. If his first eruption made him somewhat like an angel, his second eruption brought him much closer to God's perfection... and to being one of Heaven's storm troopers. His "Aspect" is now much stronger, tougher, and faster. Truly perfect in every way, no mortal can match his divine physical, mental, or social abilities. He speaks all languages and can sing, well, like an Angel. Sometimes God whispers in his ear, telling him of what is going on beyond mortal senses. With a touch he can heal. On the grimmer side, he also has the power strip mortal man of his technology, or rain fire and brimstone from the sky.

"Have you ever noticed that when God wants someone dead he sends an Angel?" -Quote from some Sci-Fi movie.

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Totem, if you have made all this clear from the start, all of us, not only me, would have not made so many mistakes with our characters. Sorry, but I don´t like your methods. Consider me out of the game. Good luck to the rest of you, I feel you are going to need it.

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Chill Blackstar. Totem hasn't even started the game. He really hasn't even begun accepting players. The original intent of this thread was to see if there was interest in a 100 Nova point game and what people would be looking for in such a game.

I'm still cool with things Totem. if there is anything wrong mechanically with my character, just PM me.

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I've changed the powers of the Edmiester to fit in with the new rules...

30 point nova... he has a basic Force Field, Claws, Bodymorph (Stone), flight, super speed, minor mega stamina, and dex and a large mega strength score.

100 point super wonder :P ...

Maxed out mega physicals (all mega 5 excluding dex which is 3)

Uber Force Field (mastery if Totem allows it)

minor flight

medium bodymorph ability

AP Claws

Invisibility

Flight

Superspeed

The theme I am going for is the classic soak monster, when in his rock form his max soak is 70+ and he dishes out 43 AP punches. I figure the team will need at least one meat grinder.

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I'll be tweaking David a bit, now - pulling back a bit on the physical side (since we've got a couple of great bricks here) and emphasizing superhuman mental capacities. Might weaken or strengthen his stealth abilities - haven't really decided.

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Just so you are aware Dr. Troll I don't think Bodymorph (mastery) gives the granted abilities the mastery extra, it would only effect Bodymorph (thus giving you more points to spend on abilities)... Otherwise it would be the wrongest most broken power/extra combo on the planet....

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That's not what the rules say.

The rules on Mastery are simple (and brutal). You double the effect.

As for being the "wrongest most broken power/extra combo", the answer is "not really".

Bodymorph rocks at Q's less than 6.

At Q6+ however, bodymorph is more limited and you are better off buying the same powers seperately. The core reason is that q cost isn't much of a limitation for powers when Mastery is around, and you can really stack up the extras with Q6. But even with a Q of 6, bodymorph can only have level 2 or less powers.

Q6 Example:

I could buy Armor+SuperHeavy+Impervious+Mastery (cost to use 2 per scene).

I could also buy

Density Increase+Full Control+Affects Other+Mastery (cost to use, 2 per scene).

Both of those are a lot more insane that Bodymorph(Density Increase, Armor)+Mastery (cost to use, 1 per scene).

Bodymorph is cheaper to use, but that extra 3 per scene isn't going to mean much.

You can only put extras on bodymorph if you apply it to BODYMORPH, not to the underlying powers.

I can't buy "Impervious" for bodymorph because it isn't an extra for bodymorph. This is true even if all three dots have "Armor" in them.

I could buy "Reflexive", but then I couldn't turn it on at will.

I can buy "Reduced-q-cost" because that's something you could buy for BODYMORPH. Ditto with MASTERY, it doesn't matter what the underlying powers are, you are applying Mastery to Bodymorph, not the sub powers.

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Maybe I'd better do another example:

Jack has Bodymorph(Diamond) defined as (Density Increase, Armor, and Claws)

Bodymorph(Diamond) (3 dots)

1 Density Increase

2 Armor

3 Claws

He is at Q3 now. While building the character he realizes he can buy Claws+Armor Piercing and still have a level 2 power.

Bodymorph(Diamond) (3 dots)

1 Density Increase

2 Armor

3 Claws+Armor Piercing

Later he gets a Q of 6. He can (and does) get Mastery. And the effect of bodymorph doubles. Note that all his unlying powers are still level 2, just like if he had bought "Reduced q cost" back when he had a Q of 3.

Bodymorph+MASTERY(Diamond) (3 dots)

1 Density Increase

2 Armor

3 Claws+Armor Piercing

Where it gets strange is if he realizes that Claws isn't level 2 any more, it is level 1. In theory he could buy another extra for Claws, even MASTERY.

Bodymorph+MASTERY(Diamond) (3 dots)

1 Density Increase

2 Armor

3 Claws+Armor Piercing+MASTERY

He submits that to the ST who laughs and says that, while technically legal, he won't allow it. He also axes his other idea of getting a second level of Armor Piercing.

Instead Jack gets the "Kenetic" extra (aka "Ranged") for his claws.

Bodymorph+MASTERY(Diamond) (3 dots)

1 Density Increase

2 Armor

3 Claws+Armor Piercing+Kenetic

Note that while the above is legal, the below is not.

Bodymorph(Diamond) (2 dots)

1 Density Increase+MASTERY (a level 3 power)

2 Armor+SuperHeavy+Inpervious (level 3 power)

And finally, note that getting all three of those sub powers seperately and getting a truck load of extras and mastery on them would be much better for him at Q6. But he built the character at Q3 so he is stuck with him.

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I just looked on page 120 of the APG and it doesn't say whether the power goes down or not when Q6 is attained. Unless I missed it I will rule that it will indeed fall to fit withing the parameters given. Showing that Q6 really is the huge leap that they make it out to be.

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If all of you could do me a favor. Please take all that you have sent me regarding your PCs and send it to me at Panther_in_the_sky@hotmail.com I would appreciate it greatly. I am really starting to run out of space in my PMs. Thanks!

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My problem with what I saw on your character sheet was that I read it as you saying that you would give your character "Bodymorph (mastery)" and then apply the "mastery" effect too all of the underlying powers... there-by getting mastery for free on a bunch of stuff...

All mastery on bodymorph does is double the amount of points you get to spend on your transformed powers and the special effects (like turning to rock would give you 4 extra dice of damage instead of 2)

Sorry if I read it wrong, I do that sometimes :P

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First, it was an error to send my sheet (stopped reading with the letter "T") :P My fault.

Quote:
All mastery on bodymorph does is double the amount of points you get to spend on your transformed powers and the special effects (like turning to rock would give you 4 extra dice of damage instead of 2)
Mastery is very clear on what it does. You look at the effect of the power without Mastery, then you double it. If you have a reference where it says otherwise for bodymorph then please give the page & paragraph. If you have an argument against that then please state it in detail rather than stating the conclusion as a fact.

My line of logic is already up in those two long-ish posts up on Bodymorph and Mastery.

In addition, nothing is "For Free". The costs are exactly the same and I've already stated the advantages and disadvantages for both.

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It looks like it would cost the same as if I was buying basically an extra dot in the power, because it stays at third level. So if I want 5 dots in a lvl 3 power with one extra, then it would cost the same as if I had bought six dots in it (an extra 5 Nova Points), and if I bought 4 dots, it would cost the same as 5 dots etc. Does that sound right?

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Level One is 1/level

Level Two is 3/level

Level Three is 5/level

Level Four would be 7/level, I think

Extras that don't raise the level cost the price of one level of the power (ie. 1/3/5) APGpg. 120.

Note: their example doesn't match the chart.

BTW, Mastery automatically raises the effective level of the power by one (APG pg. 119), even if the nova's Quantum score allows regular Extras without level change.

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Preston's right.

I'm buying a level 3 power with one (non mastery) extra, and I want 5 dots of it.

5 dots of a level 3 power =>

5 (dots) * 5 (point cost) = 25

"Free" extra for level 3 = 5

Total = 25 + 5 = 30

Note that at Q6, we can't have extras on level 4 powers. Thus a normal level 3 power can have Mastery (making it level 4), OR it can have 2 other extras. What it can't have is Mastery and an extra.

In general you are better off with Mastery... but not always (or rather, not with all character concepts).

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David Ou v2.0

Just after eruption, David is pretty much the same as he was in the previous version - a mild brick with near-invulnerability to psychic intrusion, mildly superhuman intelligence, and strong tactical skills. He's still extremely skilled with all forms of combat (Martial Arts, Melee, and Firearms included).

As before, the mental changes wrought by eruption had the side effect of stripping him of his memory.

After Event X, I made a lot of changes. He no longer has stealth powers or temporal manipulation, and he doesn't have the combat powers that he once did (Density Increase, Claws). He's still pretty tough, though (Armor), and his M-Atts and Dex Abilities insure that he can hold his own in a fight. Also, while he doesn't have stealth Powers, he does have excellent Stealth and Intrusion Ability pools.

When Event X comes around, David undergoes a major mental transformation. Now, his mind is far beyond human (maxed M-Int). Abilities and Enhancements further build his ability to uncover information and apply it to planning, tactics (in or out of combat), and investigation. Analyze Weakness enhances his already impressive combat and intrusion abilities. He also has the ability to divine information about past events and to run statistical predictions of the future (Pretercognition).

All of this is enhanced by Parallel Processing - a modified Clone power (not yet approved by Totem). The recent changes to his mind gave him the ability to create seed personalities from his own mind. These new minds proliferate in his head, and are capable of working together to solve problems - increasing the power of his mind by entire orders of magnitude. These 'clones' do not manifest physically - they are just mental constructs.

He also has the ability to pass these seed personalities along to other people, distributing the seeds over a number of people. The seeds have no ability to control the host or read the host's mind. However, they can communicate with the host and use his/her perceptions, as well as apply certain powers to the host. The seeds are still in communication with each other - sharing information and working together on tactical plans (or whatever).

This is intended to be an extra for Parallel Processing - if Totem doesn't like that, I'll try for a weakened version of Parasitic Possession (only usable by seeds, cannot control host, etc.).

David also has some minor quantum-related powers (Quantum Attunement and a weak Quantum Leech). These will probably expand with time.

David's aberrations have changed. His skin is the color of concrete and is hard to the touch. More significantly, his enhanced mind is completely useless when it comes to investigating his past - he functions as if dormed down when attempting to discover anything about himself prior to his eruption. (no M-Int, Investigative Prodigy, Pretercognition ...)

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OK, thanks for the help. With the character I made now (N.V.) basically I have the sleeping giant. Huge dice pools for everything he can roll for pretty much, and a huge Quantum, with almost no Taint. Coupled with the Mega Stat in everything and he's ready to go in any direction. The second eruption basically goes along his plans. Everything about him improves exponentially (1 in every mega stat and 1 Enhancement), and his Quantum goes through the roof compared to most Novas. But the real power comes from his 'Covet' ability. He has Quantum Imprint with the Extra from the PG, that allows him to use the power at his Quantum level. Meaning he can often copy a power and have it be more powerful (not more precise though necessarily) than the original.

Still a bit weak though in many ways, I have to play him smart otherwise he could be gone real fast. Thanks for the help BTW with the costs.

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"Maxed" nowdays is truely impressive, M-Stat 6.

? Last I heard the M-Att cap was 5.

Novas are immune to their own powers.

The Parasitic Possession would be for the seeds to affect other people. The idea is that if David is incapacitated, the distributed personality seeds could help out while the original is down. Lets me get some of my eggs into other baskets.

And if I have to go that way, I'll just take the weakened Dominate (PP), then buy the psychic link extra for Clone. No fuss, no muss - though it would cost a few points more.

Might pick up that Boost (Int) idea for later, though.

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Actually, the Players guide actually gives guidelines/rules for having a Mega-Strength over 5. That leads us to believe that all Mega Attributes can be taken over 5. Of course, the Mega Att rules in the core book won't allow anything over 6...I chalk it up to another of WW's poor clarity between books issues.

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Troll:"Maxed" nowdays is truely impressive, M-Stat 6.

Alex Craft: ? Last I heard the M-Att cap was 5.

Q-Powers and Mega-Stats max at 5 if your Q is 5 or less. The Q6+ club have maxes that are equal to their Q rating. This is implied strongly in the APG, and stated outright by the developers after it came out and they realized that "implied" wasn't strong enough. (Or maybe the Q-Powers part was stated outright... can anyone supply a page number?)

Which in turn would require an edict by Totem.

Troll:Novas are immune to their own powers.

Alex Craft: The Parasitic Possession would be for the seeds to affect other people....

My point is since Clones are "you", they are all immune to each others powers. Clone's are *exact* copies, and have your *exact* q-sig. Just as you can't q-bolt yourself and do damage, you can't q-bolt your clone and do damage or vise versa. This would also include Strobe, Shroud, Dominate, etc.

"Immune" doesn't mean you can't have bodyless clones riding around with you "possessing" you (that's ST's call). But it does mean that "host is immune to clone's Dominate" isn't a flaw. You get get that for free.

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"Immune" doesn't mean you can't have bodyless clones riding around with you "possessing" you (that's ST's call). But it does mean that "host is immune to clone's Dominate" isn't a flaw. You get get that for free.

Well, yeah (and a clone of myself would be unlikely to control me anyway - not much point). Idea was, if it possesses someone else, it still can't control that person. That is the weakness.

The concept is that the seed personalities can spread to other people, giving them limited access to David's reasoning abilities. It just plugs the new host into David's multiple brain, without actually dominating the new host.

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Quote:
Originally posted by Alex Craft:
"Immune" doesn't mean you can't have bodyless clones riding around with you "possessing" you (that's ST's call). But it does mean that "host is immune to clone's Dominate" isn't a flaw. You get get that for free.

Well, yeah (and a clone of myself would be unlikely to control me anyway - not much point). Idea was, if it possesses someone else, it still can't control that person. That is the weakness.

The concept is that the seed personalities can spread to other people, giving them limited access to David's reasoning abilities. It just plugs the new host into David's multiple brain, without actually dominating the new host.
I don't understand the effect you are trying to get with this, is it like a hive mind thing where you can connect a bunch of peoples brains and use them as like a think tank? Or is it that it makes the host smarter? Or both?
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The effect creates copies of David's mind, which may either remain in David's body or be distributed to 'infect' other people, similar to Parasitic Possession. Even when distributed, the copies stay connected to each other and David in a kind of hive mind.

Then, the copies can use their considerable brain power to support David or the group. This is pretty open ended, but generally this would be using Pretercognition, making tactics or investigation rolls, attempting to Analyze Weakness ... that kind of thing. Then, this information could be passed on to David or some other host.

This pretty much allows David, other team members, and sometimes NPCs to get a stream of useful information. In combat, this could include tactical assessments, descriptions of an enemy's weaknessess, and warnings of attacks on your blind side. Out of combat, the seed personality could point out things it noticed through Investigation (which it is very good at), or just feed you random knowledge.

It also serves as a poor man's telepathic network, since the seeds could relay messages from person to person.

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