New Limits

[Trakx]

I came up with a list of new limits a while back. Unfortunately, I lost my notebook that had the list in it. The limits only have a mechanical use. That is, that's as far as my design for them came. Wrapping it in a story-related way, I figured, would be the easy part.

From recall, here are some of what I had:


Edge Requirement: Taking this power requires an Edge of X. The Narrator may dictate that without meeting this requirement you cannot take the power, or you this power is considered Uncontrollable. (Ex: Cosmic Energy Control might require an Edge of 3 or higher)

Intensity Requirement: This power's potential is limited unless you have an intensity of X or higher. (See Magic)

Hindrance Activated: Use of this power activates a Hindrance (ex: Ability Boost: Strength, activating Monsterous). The Hindrance is obtained for free, without benefit to the character during creation.

Powerful Stunt: This stunt counts as two stunts for purposes of earning this stunt or buying it at character creation.


Thoughts?

[stormangel]

Diminishing Range: A range based power looses Intensity the further out it is used. I'd have to look at the distances to give details on the loss, or leave it to the Narator's judgement.

[Trakx]

stormangel said:

Diminishing Range: A range based power looses Intensity the further out it is used. I'd have to look at the distances to give details on the loss, or leave it to the Narator's judgement.

Wow, yeah, that's a good one. If you, or someone else, could come up with details about the intensity/range, I'd love to see it.

[Trakx]

Here are some new Hindrances I found on the Marvel-Phile. I'm re-posting them here for input from anyone, as well as to attempt to have all new Hindrances and Limits in one place.

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Bad Press: The character has a bad reputation which causes others, including law enforcement agencies and other heroes to mistake him for a villain. The hero's Willpower is considered 0 when attempting to use persuasion against anyone without firsthand experience of the hero's good deeds. [by Greg Kerner]

Bruiser: A bruiser has an Agility of 0 when attempting to avoid being hit. This is intended for use with the Agility to hit or Fighting ability. [by Greg Kerner]

Robotic Body: The character's body is a machine and does not heal normally. A character with a Robotic Body can only be healed by someone possessing the repair skill. Repairing damage is an easy Intellect (damage sustained) action. [by Greg Kerner]

[Trakx]

I got these from MSHAGLibrarian. All "Note:"'s are notes by MSHAGLibrarian.

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"You'll find a lot of common real-life ailments, illnesses, and afflictions (or at least my take on them) in my Hindrances section. The game book gives many good examples and gives you a vague idea on how to make more, so I've taken that step for you. Many of these are just what you need to bring a more humanizing element to the game. Some people don't feel they are limiting enough, while others feel they are too limiting. As always, feel free to adjust them.
Note: most of these Physically Disabled Hindrances are more closely related to the Physically Disabled - Legacy Virus Hindrance than the original "permanent" Hindrances. Just so you know that I had a base model for these and didn't create them out of whole cloth. Not that this would necessarily be a bad thing to do." - MSHAGLibrarian


Double Damage
Your hero takes Double Damage from successful attacks of a certain type (such as fire, cold, or physical). Unlike the Susceptible Hindrance, this does not affect defense; an attack of this type is defended normally. However, if any damage does get through, the damage total is doubled. times over. This is a double-edged sword. While whatever your enemies do to the hero is visited upon them, so too is whatever the hero does to his enemies reflected back upon
himself. Anytime your hero attacks, for an aura duration afterwards, he gains the Unlucky Hindrance. If anyone attacks your hero, for an aura duration afterwards, that character gains the Unlucky Hindrance. “Automatic” attacks, such as damage inflicted by a force field with feedback or by quills when someone attacks you do not count as “attacks” for the purpose of this Hindrance. Only attacks that the hero caused by his actions bring about the Unlucky Factor.


Karma
Your hero follows the golden rule: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. This is because of Karma's rule of three: whatever you send out, you shall receive three times over. This is a double-edged sword. While whatever your enemies do to the hero is visited upon them, so too is whatever the hero does to his enemies reflected back upon himself. Anytime your hero attacks, for an aura duration afterwards, he gains the Unlucky Hindrance. If anyone attacks your hero, for an aura duration afterwards, that character gains the Unlucky Hindrance. “Automatic” attacks, such as damage inflicted by a force field with feedback or by quills when someone attacks you do not count as “attacks” for the purpose of this Hindrance. Only attacks that the hero caused by his actions bring about the Unlucky Factor.


King of the Hill
Your hero has the reputation for being the best of the best at some activity or skill. Just like the game, everyone wants to unseat your hero and become King of the Hill himself. Your hero receives frequent challenges and surprise attacks from contenders to the crown. If your hero should lose one of the challenges, he loses this hindrance and passes it off to the person that defeated him. Unfortunately, all that time in the limelight has had an effect. Your hero must make a Desperate (20) Willpower action or gain the hindrance Obsessive (Regaining the Crown).
Game Note: Narrators should throw in surprise attacks at inopportune times to increase challenge, and from inept opponents to create moral dilemmas.


Physically Disabled - Diabetes
Your hero cannot produce enough insulin on his own and must receive injections at least every 12 to 24 hours. (-1 in all powers / abilities per exchange after that period without insulin). If this reduces any of your hero's abilities / powers to 0, he must make a daunting Willpower action or fall unconscious. Even if your hero falls unconscious, his abilities & powers continue to fall until he receives medical attention. He only awakes after receiving serious medical care. After your hero receives his care, his powers and abilities return at the rate of +1 intensity per day until fully healed, but this process can be sped up by a skilled physician or some high-tech drugs. A First Aid action will stop the hero from losing any more powers / abilities, but will not restore health / cards until he
receives insulin.)
Note: I had considered merely using the Addicted Hindrance and making the addiction to insulin, but I didn't feel it was sufficiently limiting to drop Willpower to zero and have all his other scores at normal level. I thought, well, if he has diabetes and he hasn't got his insulin on time, his strength isn't going to stay at 17, and surely he won't be hopping around with a 14 agility if his blood sugar is too low. And if he has already had his shot, he’s not going to go chasing after another dose of insulin whenever he sees one. If you feel it would be better to use Addicted - Insulin, go right ahead.


Physically Disabled – Hypochondria
Your hero gets really sad sometimes. We're not talking "Oh, my mother has died. Now I am sad." kind of sad. We're talking "Oh, I have chipped a nail and I don't think I can go on!" kind of sad. (Anytime your hero receives wounds he must make a Willpower action of at least two levels above his Willpower or he loses 1 point of Willpower or one point of a power with a Willpower trump suit or both, at the Narrator's choice. This can be either until the end of the adventure or it can be 'permanent' until it is healed at the Narrator's choice. Either way, that Willpower is gone for at least the immediate future. Another hero or character with a means - such as the Psychiatry skill or Telepathy power and Psychic Surgery stunt - can help them to regain this lost power, but the battlefield will hardly be the place to sit down and express your feelings.)
Note: I really liked the idea of this loss of Willpower being semi-permanent, but my players didn't. I ended up using the end of adventure option, assuming the hero sought help "off-camera" or between adventures. Use whatever works best for you.


Physically Disabled - Hypoglycemia
Your hero must eat regularly (roughly every 3-4 hours) or he starts to become ill. Symptoms may include weakness, fatigue, nausea, tremors, and eventually
unconsciousness. (-1 in all powers & abilities per exchange after the allotted time period without food. If this reduces any of your hero's four primary abilities to 0, he must make a daunting Willpower action or fall unconscious. He only awakes after receiving medical care. A First Aid action will stop the hero from losing any more powers / abilities, but will not restore health / cards until he receives nourishment.)
Note: if your adventures only span a few hours, this Hindrance won’t be very limiting. Ideally, an adventure with this Hindrance will last at least 8 hours, possibly longer.


Physically Disabled – Inhuman Anatomy
Your hero’s anatomy is not like that of a human, making many normal physical actions impossible. This hindrance does not affect heroes whose anatomy is humanoid, but merely cosmetically different (green skin, gills, feathered skin, etc.). This hindrance applies only to heroes who have anatomies vastly different than human (flippers, wings, or legs in place of arms and hands, etc.). Most animals are assumed to have this hindrance.
Example 1: Horses can drag heavy loads or carry weight on their backs, but cannot do arm curls, bench press, or lift weights.
Example 2: Dolphins are very fast and agile, but cannot perform feats of manual dexterity with their flippers. Anytime the Narrator decides an action is difficult - or even impossible - for your anatomy, you will face extra opposition, if you are allowed to attempt at all.
For example: for a human, dialing a known phone number is an Automatic Intellect action, but for a dog, it would be a Challenging Intellect action, at the very least.


Physically Disabled - Narcolepsy
Your hero has sudden, uncontrollable bouts of sleep. Any time the Narrator's draw is of the Doom suit your hero falls asleep for an aura duration. Alternately, you the Narrator could reduce the number of times this happens by making a supplemental condition, such as: the draw is of the Doom Suit and higher than the character's Willpower (or another ability).
Note: I know this sounds a little silly at first, but I have found that it really makes for some interesting role-playing if you can handle it maturely.


Physically Disabled – Poor Vision
Your hero requires corrective lenses in order to see properly. If your hero is ever caught without them, he has 0 Willpower for any actions involving sight or visual observation. Furthermore, he faces a penalty of two levels of difficulty performing any actions that involve sight, regardless of suit, for as long as he is without them. There are times when your hero would be most likely to not have the glasses on; in the shower, in the pool, and in bed come to mind, but those are just a few. However, don’t think that the hero gets away scot-free just because he’s wearing the glasses at the start of the fight. Anytime the hero performs any action that involves rough movement (jumping, climbing, falling, rolling, diving, etc.) the Narrator draws a card. If that card is of a negative aura, the glasses slip off. It is an Average Willpower action to find these, given that there is a logical chance of them being found (don’t forget that the hero is at 0 Willpower for this action, but the average action includes the two level penalty). Obviously, if they fall off while you are dangling over a ravine, you probably aren’t getting them back. And don’t forget that looking for those darned glasses is your hero’s action for the exchange. I doubt the villain will sit around and wait for your hero to find his glasses; he’ll be moving in for the kill. Anytime there is damage to the hero’s head (punched in the face, for example) the Narrator draws a card. If the card is of the Doom suit OR of a negative aura, the glasses break. If the card is BOTH of the Doom suit AND of a negative aura, the hero sustains physical damage by the breakage (glass in the eye or a cut on the cheek, for instance) and must discard the doom card’s value in wounds (ignoring all defenses). Due to the fragile nature of glasses, your hero should probably carry a spare, but don’t expect to get them on without consequences. It takes a full exchange to replace your broken glasses with your spares, and that means no actions and no counteractions while you’re doing it. If your hero wears contacts, he’ll only lose a lens on the Negative Doom draws (instead of damage) but he won’t be able to find the lost contact lens at all. That means he will be “flying blind” for the rest of the adventure.


Unregenerate
Your hero does not heal as normal beings do, and cannot restore health until healed or repaired. This is usually because your hero is a machine, cyborg, robot, etc. but is occasionally the result of a diseased humanoid. Your hero does not gain back cards lost to damage on a positive Narrator draw, but does regain cards lost to a push. Robots without this Hindrance are considered to have a basic “self-repair” program and those with Regeneration to have an advanced repair program. Characters with this Hindrance cannot gain Regeneration and vice versa.


Vulnerable
Your hero has superhuman strength, but is not superhumanly resistant to injury. For purposes of defense, use half the hero's Strength score (rounded down) instead of his full strength score. In order to take this hindrance your hero must have Strength 11 or greater. This Hindrance may be selected for a piece of technology; if so, use the hero’s natural defense score for defense (the hero gains no defensive bonus because of the armor, even if it boosts his strength score).

[Trakx]

Thinking of video game fighting games, here's a limit to make the common "Fireball" more video-game-realistic:

Contingent Blast: Your hero can release blasts of internal energy that come forth in the form of a fireball. From the time the fireball is launched to the time it would connect with the intended opponent essentially sets these blasts as contingent actions.

[syzygy]

trakx said:

Edge Requirement: Taking this power requires an Edge of X. The Narrator may dictate that without meeting this requirement you cannot take the power, or you this power is considered Uncontrollable. (Ex: Cosmic Energy Control might require an Edge of 3 or higher)

I'm not comfortable with this one. When Galactus first gave Surfer his powers, surely, the SS only had an Edge of one. Presumably, however, he could still control those powers.

Linking anything to Edge should be straight out, in my opinion. After all, an Eternal may have spent centuries learning to control their CEC (Energy Control), but still be rather much of a cloistered homebody (Edge: 1/Hand: 3(17)), and not have the experience of a mortal warrior who's always in the thick of things like Captain America.

[Trakx]

Well, again, when I said Cosmic Energy Control (or CEC) might have a requirement to have an Edge of 3, I was giving an example.

Hindrances like this are not taken by the player in the traditional sense, but rather are imposed by the Narrator at character creation. I don't suggest this hindrance being applied to many powers - mostly ones where it's easy to imagine it being hard to control.

Now, as for your criticism about having it be applied to the Silver Surfer, no, it may not work as well when empowered by the likes of Galactus, but it could in the case of the Fantastic Four when being bombarded with cosmic rays.

The idea of linking a power to Edge is a way of showing control. I thought this might be done better using Edge instead of Willpower.

[wizzer]

I do not understand the "double-edged" part of the double damage hindrance. Is it really necessary?
I think that taking double damage from given type of attack is a big enough hindrance.

[Trakx]

wizzer said:

I do not understand the "double-edged" part of the double damage hindrance. Is it really necessary?
I think that taking double damage from given type of attack is a big enough hindrance.

Uh, yeah, re-reading it that doesn't make sense. I think I copied it wrong or something, though, as it makes sense until a certain point and then it just stars trailing off into what reads to be nonsense.

Do you ever read a book and when you turn the page, unknowingly two pages stick together, and you continue reading but things kind of seem off in the story, but since it's readable you wonder if it's just you or if there were some mistake in the book, etc.?

Anyways, yeah, I believe the double damage hindrance should read:

Double Damage
Your hero takes Double Damage from successful attacks of a certain type (such as fire, cold, or physical). Unlike the Susceptible Hindrance, this does not affect defense; an attack of this type is defended normally. However, if any damage does get through, the damage total is doubled.