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Aberrant RPG - Help Designing a Gadget


Rathe

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Hi everyone,

I've been lurking about reading your stories and fictions quite avidly for over a year now and finally made the decision to join the community; if only to tap into (and hopefully contribute to) the knowledge base on the site.

My current character in our table top game is a Space-Time manipulator, with scientific and medical training, along with decent mental and social stats (with associated mega abilities). This character blames taint for many of the Novas' ills and wishes to somehow discover a way to deal with it, or at least help hold it off. Contributing to this aversion of taint are a number of nightmarish visions, courtesy of the ST, of aberrant horrors in the future which haunt him to this day. (He was trying to get precognition and the ST "convinced him" otherwise - he is very glad he doesn't need to sleep anymore. The nightmares aren't a flaw or aberration, just for flavor and knowing the ST...plot development.)

To add a little desperation to this, the other players of my group are considering (or have already joined and are hiding it) the Teragan for its associated Chrysalis benefits, thus his need for developing something as an alternative, as opposed to just going slow and steady. He disagrees with Teras on a number of points from its embrace of Taint (taint to him=bad), the hypocrisy of following strict paths while supposedly embracing freedom, to its dismissal of base humanity.

He has some knowledge of 2nd Gen Novas (the group having met 2 True types and 1 Terat type as per the breed book) and due to his abilities was able to discretely study them (Eidetic Memory, Quantum Attunement, Electromagnetic Vision etc.). This allowed him to make the mental leap that farahcyte growths formed in a tumorous fashion rather than being distributed uniformly is an aberration, as it wasn't present in the more powerful and stable True 2nd gen Novas.

So as you've likely guessed, he wishes to somehow transform 1st Gen novas into 2nd Gen novas and gain their resistance to taint, distributed node and seemingly inherited ability to better handle quantum energies. Unfortunately, he cannot comprehend a way to do so using his own abilities (Time-Space is not a Bio type), so must suffice with developing a gadget of some sort to do it for him. Of course I realize that this will be all subject to "Rule 0", but even prior to ST submission, having a coherent and well thought-out idea cannot hurt.

Appropriate Stats: Sta 5/M-Sta 1 - Adaptability; Per 5/M-Per 1 - Quantum Attunement, Electromagnetic Vision; Int 5/M-Int 2 - Medical Prodigy, Tactical Prodigy, Eidetic Memory; Manip 5/M-Man 2; Medicine 4; Science 5; Engineering 3; Quantum 5

Power Duplicated: Biomanipulation: Form Manipulation:

Alter shape; 1 success: superficial changes(skin color, race,fingerprints), 2: minor(height/build, move Phys dots), 3: moderate(change gender or Phys dots from 1-5), 4: major(add features from other species, change mass x4), 5: extreme(create new creature, mass x10); Pool:Man+Bio, Range:touch, Duration:instant

1) This is a Level 3 power with a Q6 minimum and I'm unsure if the ST will allow the option of using a specific power at Q5...so Q6 min.

2) Using the success rules it will likely require either: 4 successes - Major (add/remove features) or more likely, 5 successes - Extreme (create new creature)

On to the Gadget!

Biomanipulative Artificial Evolution Pod

(Using Players Guide rules with the number in [] being successes required)

Uses per scene: None - always powered [0 successes]

Dice Pool: Manipulation 2 [2 successes] - User may use own ability scores at 1 Quantum / level diff.

Effect Level: 5 [12 successes (8 for up to Q-1, +4 for Q rating)]

Quantum: Requires Q6 so, [28 successes = 8 (Q4) + 4 (Q5) + 16 (Q6)]

Power Rating: Just Need 1 dot, but he doesn't have it...so that will require study. [3 successes + 6 hours of distant research]

Quantum Storage: At least 3 for a level 3 power, and he doesn't want to lose that quantum so that makes it 2 per point [6 successes]

Versatility: Nada - only him

Duration: Meh, doesn't care as long as it does the job he can fix it.

Durability: Not important, why would he carry it around - it will be big and bulky.

Total Successes Required: 51

Dice Pool: Int:5 + M-Int:2 + Medical Prodigy(?)

Time Required: About 4+ days (he can work 24/7 - or speed it up a bit with time manipulation)

Activating the Device: 3 Quantum to charge, 9 Quantum to substitue ability scores (Man 5/M-Man 2 + Medicine 4)

Result: Success: Congratulations! You're now effectively a 2nd Gen Nova! You gain the taint resistance merit (might have to buy it), might get to go through a Apothosis, may gain Node (trade for Dormacy?), lose all taint gained by node and quantum, may lose taint from tainted powers (if you spend xp and depending on ST), lose the dormacy background, lose the ability to purchase anything tainted, have social penalties with highly tainted and terat novas and probably now have several groups trying to hunt you down. Life is good.

Failure: Several options - 1) Nothing happens, 2)Nothing happens and you can't ever try again, 3)You become a Terat 2nd gen...opps etc.

Botch: 1) Nothing happens and you can't ever try again, 2) You are now a Trog, sucks to be you. 3)Your brain melts etc.

Well, what are your thoughts?

Do you think it is reasonable/too much/needs adjustment...?

Any input on this is desirable as it is currently only a conceptual thing so have at it!

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There is one flaw that I can see. "Biomanipulation" does not induce permanent changes in novas. However rafter reading this whole thing I have to say that it's very well thought out and if this is the way your games are headed (into the next generation) than you've created a gadget that could cause a lot problems IC.

Normally I'd say 'no' to something like this in a canon game, but you've stated that Rule 0 is in effect (which I make use of on a regular basis, heh) so I say go for it!

A botch should actually add taint, perhaps one temp per '1' rolled on the botch, plus an amount equal to the Quantum of the person it was meant to help.

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Thanks Primal, glad to get some feedback on this idea.

Regarding Biomanipulation - Well nuts, I don't actually have the book...just a quick synopsis of the power and approximation of its uses, was hoping that it was permanant. Would you happen to know of any way to make it so? (i.e. Maxing powers, adding effects etc.)

Yeah, as I understand it anything to do with 2nd Gen Novas (the entire breed book in general) is non canon. Then again, canon for the Aberrant game is pretty screwed up in my opinion...doesn't follow the theme at all. I mean when someone says what would you do with the power of a god, you probably don't think "I'll watch the big boys play and decide everything!" - sorry, topic for another time along with my thoughts on why some of the powers were balanced the way they were.

Good idea with the taint from the botch, yeah thinking something like 1 point per "1" plus 1 point per taint gained from quantum and node might be good.

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Well thought out, but you may want to go at it from a Quantum standpoint as well as a biological one.

-Powers like Aberration Transfer allow you remove aberrations.

-the Quantum Reduction technique from the Quantum Authority power allows you to strip away powers and enforce Dormancy.

-From the same powers, you have Quantum Intesification which allows you to raise someone's quantum if needed.

Just some thoughts.

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Thank you Ravenshire for your suggestions, incorporating quantum manipulating powers seems a very good way of getting some of the more difficult changes accomplished. Aberration Transfer is a good one, maybe incorporating the gadget somehow transferring the characters aberrations to some sort of protomatter which is destroyed during the process.

Not sure about the other two as they seem, for lack of a better term, powerful and too imbalancing. The design is for a method of self betterment and much like Chrysalis will require effort (XP). Hoping for an alternative, but not something that is better or easier to do - in fact it takes away the "quick and easy way" of buying tainted powers. Was hoping that the ST will see you rearranging your characters DNA and MR-Node as a reason to allow for purchase of the Node and Quantum trait.

Still not sure if it would be an "all at once" deal or a "incremental changes" sort of thing. Thoughts?

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