How to Build a Better Demonic Soul-Sucking Whip

[Jeff K]

Hey all, I have a Player that wants to build a Power Focus in the form of a demonic whip.  The Player was thinking about having the following powers in the whip:

1.                   Whip Lash - a basic attack

2.                   Soul Flay - this is attached to Whip Lash and drains 1 point Willpower from the target if they have any

3.                   Soul Feast - this power is attached to Soul Flay and takes the point of drained Willpower

4.                   Store Soul - this is a Willpower Battery from the Miracle Cafeteria that only can store Willpower gained from Soul Feast with the Willpower only usable by the wielder

So, my question is how to build this.  I have a few ideas and came to the Learned Sages at the Cult of ORE for advice.

 

The Basic Focus is Demonic Whip: Focus (Focus (-1), Operational Skill (+0), Indestructible (+2), Irreplaceable (-2), Booby Trap (+1)) - Total Focus Modifier (-0)

 

Whip Lash: 6d - Basic attack Power

Attacks(+2), Capacity: Range.  Extras and Flaws:  Focus (-0), Daze (+1), Obvious [Demonic shrieking whip crack] (-1), Reduced Capacity (-1)

For a total of 1 point per die.  We went with Range and Reduced Capacity because it made more sense for a whip.

 

Soul Flay: 2hd - Drains Willpower from target

Useful(+2), Capacity: Range.  Extras and Flaws:  Focus (-0), Attached to Whip Lash (-2), Permanent (+4), If/Then [Whip Lash must damage target] (-1), If/Then [Only Drains 1 Willpower] (-1), If/Then [Target gets Free Resistance Roll of Command + Stability to avoid Willpower loss] (-1), Horrifying (-1)

For a total of 1 point per die.  We went with Range to keep in line with the Whip Lash.  I wanted a Resistance Roll (RR) because I feel like it makes sense.

 

Soul Feast: 2hd - Gains Willpower drained from target

Useful (+2), Capacity: Range.  Extras and Flaws:  Focus (-0), Attached to Soul Flay (-2), Permanent (+4), If/Then [Only if Soul Flay successfully drains Willpower] (-1), Delayed Effect (-2)

For a total of 1 point per die.  We went with Range to keep in line with the Whip Lash.

 

Store Soul: 6d – Stores Willpower gained from Soul Feast

Useful (+2), Capacity: Self.  Extras and Flaws:  Focus(-0), Self Only (-3), Permanent (+4), Attached to Soul Feast (-2)

For a total of 1 point per die.

 

Okay, so how does this look?  Does it do what I want it to do?  I welcome any and all comments and suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Chris Fougere]

I like it and will probably co-opt it for an NPC if you don't mind:)

I'd make the Whip Lash Non-Physical (resisted by a Will roll) to simulate the demonic power (also a fair number of my PCs have armor and they need to stop being so reliant on it, but that's just me.

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Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 06:45:13 -0700
From: jjko...@yahoo.com
To: cult-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ORE] How to Build a Better Demonic Soul-Sucking Whip

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[Chris Fougere]

I'm currently running Godlike, using the WT rules, and find I frequently feel like I'm running my head against the wall when designing powers for the opposition.

I wonder if anyone has ever put together a list of powers, not a point breakdown/cost analysis but even a simple "Touches things and causes them to rot"; "Cause intense pain with a glare", "Break down molecular bonds" etc.  Just a list of cool things, since the game is so open ended I frequently find myself falling back on standard powers (Blaster, Brick, Speedster etc) and I want to break that mold.

Thanks

[Hotjets]

This is easy using flaws and extras. Touch and rot = Attacks, with a range of Touch Only. That's it. If you want the rot to destroy everything, buy Disintegrates too. If you want it to bypass LA and HA, buy Non-Physical. If you want it to freak people out too, buy Traumatic and take Horrifying as a flaw. If it is a bit of a cures too, like a Midas touch, it can be Always On.

Causing intense pain could be an Attacks, perhaps with Daze and Non-Physical, and the No Physical Change flaw.            

Your Break Down Molecular Bonds needs more description, but seems doable too.

Hotjets

[Chris Fougere]

What I was looking for was more of a list of powers people have come up with, devoid of "this is how it works in game terms".  Something I (and probably others) can simply look at for inspiration.

Something like

Flight
Superspeed
Energy Blast
Turn enemy in human fly
Swarm of insects
Control Atomic Mass
Make enemy unable to tell left from right.
Summon zombie nazis.
Transform self into exact replica but superstrong.
Cause enemies stomache acids to burst forth

Etc.  I have no trouble figuring out how to do what I want to do for the NPCs, its a matter of figuring out what I want them to do in the first place.  Maybe its a result of playing for close to 2 years. 

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Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 12:04:51 -0700
From: arkha...@gmail.com
To: cult-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ORE] Re: Power ideas

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[Daniel Kane]

Some random stuff from my games, which involved some extreme one-trick ponies (with complications!):

Invulnerability (and only invulnerability)
"Living flame" form (that only needs to consume oxygen and fuel)
Teleportation (of a fixed sphere, centered on the teleporter's center of mass. Contents of start and end spheres are exchanged perfectly; anything intersected by the boundary suffers catastrophic damage)
Human EMP (sizable range, always on, inobvious for maximum inconvenience)
Reanimate dead (which retain intelligence, but are slaves to the reanimator's instructions)
Hemokinesis / blood control (the horror! ... the horror!)
"Intuitive understanding" / "Brad can do that." -- perform any previously-observed behavior at a world-class level, generally better than the original observed action
Giant animatronic John Wayne as played by Nathan Fillion
Portal creation (spawning permanent portals -- which can be closed at will -- with a range well past lunar orbit)

In addition, Misfits brings to mind a bunch:

Invisibility
Telepathy (receive-only)
Time travel (mentally controlling past self to change present)
Time travel (temporarily physically traveling back in time)
Time travel (physically traveling back in time, and staying there)
Lactokinesis (telekinetically controlling any substance containing lactose, or milk fat, or something)
Believing you're a dog
Being very, very angry
Power brokering (taking, holding, and bequeathing powers, but not using them)
Superstrength
Alisha's date rape power (touch causes uncontrollable lust and amnesia)
Healing touch
Action precognition (performing improbable or unsafe feats with the aid of short-term precognition)
Resurrection (but they hunger for the flesh of the living, and infect people with conventional zombie plague)
Alternate form: opposite gender
Alternate form: younger self
Alternate form: different species
Shapeshifting (doppelganger variety)
Fookin' rocket scientist, ya
Immortality
Limited reality warping (parlor tricks)
Cold touch
Auto-immolation
I see dead people
Summoning ghosts as free-willed, physical beings
Limited clairvoyance (seeing from other people's eyes)
Poor man's time stop (everyone in vicinity stops moving and thinking)
Drawing the future... and having it come true
Mind control voice
Hyper-charisma
Immunity to powers (or just mind control powers?)
Externalized id (as in, clone with low impulse control)
Body swap
Voluntarily transmitted STD with grotesquely rapid effects
Psychically induced baldness

There's a Misfits wiki with a more thorough and pretentiously-named list ( http://e4-misfits.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Abilities ), but beware of spoilers.

~Daniel

[Daniel Kane]

I could go either way with Non-Physical, seasoned to taste.  I'm leery of the free resistance roll on the Willpower drain, partly because extra rolls slow down combat, and partly because it neuters the power quite a bit.

I'm a little fuzzy on Store Soul; is it a Focus-based Willpower Battery?  A character won't normally need an additional power to keep gained Willpower.

Something appropriate for a demonic whip that you may want to consider is a variation on Greg Stolze's "I just pulled a new use for my powers out of my eyes" thing (from this post, referencing an early version of the WT2e rules: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?414980-Wild-Talents-Essential-Edition-Stat-Up-Some-Reference-Heroes&p=9386526#post9386526 ). Something like:

Useful (creative whip stuff): Variable Effect +4, No Physics +1, If/Then (theme: whip) -2, Exhausted -3, Focus -0

For 2 points / die, once per scene, you can do some creative Useful effect.  Willpower Investment -1 or a similar Flaw can bring it down to 1 point / die, or Obvious -1 if it involves verbally invoking the demonic spirit of the whip, or an apocalyptic pillar of fire, or an airhorn, or whatever.

~Daniel

[Allan Goodall]

On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 1:52 PM, Chris Fougere <fouge...@hotmail.com> wrote:

What I was looking for was more of a list of powers people have come up with, devoid of "this is how it works in game terms".  Something I (and probably others) can simply look at for inspiration.

I recommend you check out this Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superhuman_features_and_abilities_in_fiction

It includes the names of superheroes to check against for ideas. It's broken down into various areas.

And then there's this, which is essentially the same thing but in graphic form:

http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/PopChartLab_Superpowers_FinalFinal-Large.jpg

--
Allan Goodall            http://www.hyperbear.com
awgo...@gmail.com

[Jeff K]

I thought about the Non-Physical, but ultimately decided against it. 

 

The campaign focuses new, inexperienced low-powered heroes.  I set a 6d cap on all starting pools and wanted all powers to have Flaws that the PCs can buy off, as they get better.  I added some other House Rules, which included some new types of dice, etc.  I’ll post more if anyone is interested…

 

As for the Store Soul, it is a Willpower Battery based in a Focus.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, I’m thinking of suggesting that the character have an Alternate Demon Form with the Unhealing Intrinsic and the Extra-Dimensional Source.  Being not of this world, the Demon Form does not naturally heal.  It feeds upon souls (Willpower) to recuperate.  Second, I’m thinking the whip is currently semi-sentient, which will develop to a fully sentient entity as it feeds.  A SideKick maybe or maybe an opposing force?  Who knows…

 

I did not want it to be too easy for the PC to get the Willpower so that is why I had the Free Resistance Roll.  You are probably right about the extra roll slowing things down.  I’ll have to rethink that.

 

Thanks for the comments and good advice!