L. Marcus Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Right now, I'm without my books, but I remember thinking about Automatons - specifically Golems - and Summoning. I mean, since Automatons don't have any EGO, and as I read the rules on Summoning the duration relies on a EGO vs. EGO contest . . . So how long will a Golem or a Skeleton or a Zombie last if Summoned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy_The_Ruthles Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . the way i've played it, a summon would stick around, it just wouldn't obey you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkeown Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . Excellent Suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchman Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . I have always just waived the EGO v EGO roll and said the character automatically wins, but now that I review the rules that might not be a good idea. Well, a creature with 0 EGO has an ego roll of 9-, so maybe we should use that as it's base roll, but that seems way too high for a zombie. After performing only 4x its tasks it would be rolling a 12-, which is as high as most heroic-level characters roll for EGO. If we start it at 0- then it will take a lot longer (13x tasks) to have an equal roll....maybe a little too much I guess thats why I always buy them as slavishly loyal, or with the Phys Lim- Must Obey Creator (When the GM lets me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . No books here . . . But the number of tasks required for an ordinary Summonee is Summoners EGO/5, right? And after some thinking, I came to the conclusion that as for Golems and Undead, I'd say that they have an EGO Roll of 9-, representing a sort of 'resistance to exist'. When the Automaton finally wins an EGO vs. EGO contest, the Auto simply falls to pieces and has to be Summoned again. Oh, and how many Automatons - of the same kind - would you allow someone to have Summoned at one time, without buying more through the Power? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchman Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . I wouldn't allow them to summon more than they have bought, but... For the necromancer in our game, I allowed him to buy extra summons with the modifier Can Only Summon One at a Time (-1). After adding all the other limitations his spell has, this makes them pretty cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . Yeah, something along the lines of if you Summon a new one, the old one falls apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarragon Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . I allowed him to buy extra summons with the modifier Can Only Summon One at a Time (-1). Isn't this just lockout (-1/2)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . My rule for egoless summons was that they'd do any number of tasks, but to get them to do a task at all they had to be mind controlled. To change tasks, they had to be mind controlled again, with a higher effect total than the previous one. Drains, Supresses, Dispells, or other effects that weakened the previous mind controll only weakened it in favor of deactivating the automaton, not in favor of changing its orders. Once it was hit with a 40 point effect, you had to get more than 40 points of effect to change its orders, regardless of if you had drained/supressed/dispelled the previous orders in part or in whole. Before too long it got pretty hard to change an automaton's orders. Basically, the last order you give them, the one you dont think you will be able to beat, better be what you want them doing forever more. An interesting bit about this is that automatons will obey whatever orders they get, so long as the control is higher. "Zombie Rustling" isnt an unheard of crime in lands that use Necromancy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . I just use the base roll of 9- like some others, but when - after time or enough tasks - the automaton escapes control, it doesn't fall apart: it becomes autonomous. So a zombie mght shuffle off, muttering "fresh brains..." while a Golem might simply become unresponsive or hostile depending on its levels of "loyalty". Think Frankenstein's monster.... The reason for this is that it a) allows my NPCs to buld up huge zombie armies (which would be hard to do if they kept falling apart) and acts as a control on abuse of the power: do you really want to summon/create lots of things if you have to worry about keeping them under control? cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchman Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . Isn't this just lockout (-1/2)? I don't think so. Lockout prevents a character from using his other powers, so putting lockout on the extra summoning would prevent him from casting fireball, but not from summoning as many critters as they wanted. I valued it at a -1 because I figured that being able to summon 32 critters, one at a time, was about half as useful as being able to summon them all at once. I've heard arguments both ways, and in your games, ask the GM to value it as they see fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarragon Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Re: More Automatons . . . I valued it at a -1 because I figured that being able to summon 32 critters, one at a time, was about half as useful as being able to summon them all at once. Ah, I misread the original post. I wouldn't value this at -1 but otherwise its a cool idea for a limited summon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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