Mystical Beheading Power

[Opale]

Hi peeps 

 

Today I have a special question on how to build a series of abilities

 

I imagined a villainous mystical character who would steal a hero's body and abilities, by replacing his head by his own,

 

The villain is just a head surviving and able to speak even without a neck or torso (yup it's mystic ); and he abduct people to "behead" them, and steal their superheroic bodies and abilities, placing his own head on their beheaded bodies,

 

The Hero is still alive during that process, and is only a head able to speak and think normally (I let you imagine what horrific situation it might be for such a character, and the wonders of deep RP and scenario you can do with such an happening ^^)

 

So, how would you write such powers, that affect both the villain and the victim ?

 

Head on shoulders Opale

[steriaca]

Have you looked at the Possesion power? Or prehaps a Major Transformation (person with body to person without body, with the villain wrtien up assuming he has a body [major VVP to simulate stolen physical powers])?

[Heroic Halfwit]

I would go with Possession for the "My head on the target's body."  And Duplication usable as an attack altered duplicates to create the disembodied target's head.

[assault]

I wouldn't do it as a tactical, in combat, power. I'd treat it as a ritual. Subdue the victim first, then stick them on a altar and go nuts.

 

Absolutely not a power available to PCs.

 

If you really, really needed it to be a tactical power, some kind of transform to model the beheading (which is an attack), and a VPP to model the new abilities gained by the bad guy. In theory, he could steal a body whose abilities are too powerful for him to control, but that would be up to you.

[Lucius]

There is something to be said for making this a "plot device" and not writing it up as a power.

 

If you want to write it up, the Possession Power is the best fit.

 

If you don't have the Advanced Player's book the Possession Power is in, use a Transform (Whole person into disembodied head) linked to a Multiform with Variable Power Effects (Multiform into head on stolen body.)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wants to know if the villain's name is Vecna

[Lucius]

Sometimes You Get Ahead - Sometimes the Head Gets You: (Total: 135 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) Possession (Mind Control Effect Roll 40; Telepathy Effect Roll 30), No Blackout (+1/4), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Magical Defenses or having no head; All Or Nothing; +1/2), No Feedback (+1/2) (135 Active Points); Damage Over Time, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times) (2 damage increments, damage occurs every 1 Hour, -2 3/4), Extra Time (1 Hour, Only to Activate, -1 1/2), Skin Contact Required (-1), Based on CON (Defense: PD; -1), Mind Transfer (-1), 4 clips of 1 Continuing Charge lasting 1 Day (Increased Reloading Time: 1 Hour; -3/4), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), No Memories (-1/2), Inaccurate (0 OCV; -1/2), Stops Working If Mentalist Is Knocked Out (-1/4), Perceivable (a head transplant is pretty obvious; -1/4) (Real Cost: 12)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says I may come back and add notes later

[Opale]

thank you all for the help

 

assault & Lucius ; it is indeed a ritual power; or plot device ^^

 

Now I have questions about Possession build ; 

 

- is the Damage Over Time Limiter needed ? My idea is to have this villain running amok with a hero's body for LONG ; in fact till the group doesn't find a  way to stop him, without killing his stolen body and save their friend

- The Possession effect wouldn't stop if the villain is knocked out; some kind if hyper surgery or mystical power would be needed to "fix" the problem

- I guess I need to link this power with a Severe Transform for the hero into just his own head .

The Based On CON (Def is PD) is not suitable, for the villain should be able to get the group Brick,,, Would that be possible with a Defense such as Impenetrable or HArdened PD ?

 

AS for the name, I'm still thinking about it ^^

 

Note : What would do a palindromedary with one of his head replaced by the villain "s ?

 

Opale

[Lucius]

thank you all for the help

 

assault & Lucius ; it is indeed a ritual power; or plot device ^^

 

Now I have questions about Possession build ; 

 

- is the Damage Over Time Limiter needed ? My idea is to have this villain running amok with a hero's body for LONG ; in fact till the group doesn't find a  way to stop him, without killing his stolen body and save their friend

Damage over Time is a munchkin trick I used to get the Possession Power up to Mind Control: 80 and Telepathy: 60. If you want indefinite possession, you want to get ride of the Charges and get Zero END Cost. In fact, you may want to find something other than the Possession Power since as far as I know there is no legal way to keep the victim from getting a Breakout Roll every step of the Time Chart.

 

 

 

- The Possession effect wouldn't stop if the villain is knocked out; some kind if hyper surgery or mystical power would be needed to "fix" the problem

- I guess I need to link this power with a Severe Transform for the hero into just his own head .

That's what the Mind Transfer Limitation does. Normally that's for the kind of possession where minds switch around between bodies. In this case, the victim becomes the disembodied head.

But I am starting to think that what you need is Multiform with the linked Transform as you describe.

 

The Based On CON (Def is PD) is not suitable, for the villain should be able to get the group Brick,,, Would that be possible with a Defense such as Impenetrable or HArdened PD ?

You missed that it also has Attack Vs. Alternate Defense. If the brick has a head, and is not magically warded, 80 pts of Mind Control vs CON should do it.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

 

AS for the name, I'm still thinking about it ^^

 

Note : What would do a palindromedary with one of his head replaced by the villain "s ?

 

Opale

The palindromedary would visit the Queen of Hearts

[Doc Democracy]

Just because I like pushing this out, the way I have done possession in the past has been the following...

 

First transform an opponent into the duplicate for the duplication power I have on my character sheet. The details of that are that, when joined, the duplicate has the mental attributes of one duplicate and the physical attributes of the other. 

It works because there are few other powers in the game that make two bodies join into one. It also works because it leaves the possessor in control of the body of the possessed while retaining the mental attributes of the possessor. It does not allow for a possessed body to be killed with no danger.

I like to use the transformation on opponents, setting them up as potential duplicates, so that if one host is getting killed the possessor unduplicates, leaving the physical body of the possessed (and the current target for attacks) still there but another host available for the next action.

:-)

Not the official route but mechanically pretty cool.

 

I would allow the disembodied head of the victim as a freebie.  It is a nice narrative tool that allows the victim to interact and discuss without having access to any of his powers and only his knowledge skills.

 

This method would also avoid the need for breakout rolls.  It does require a method to undo the transform but that fits pretty well with your scenario - if the players find out how to undo the ritual then they can reverse the transform which invalidates the duplication...

 

:-)

 

Doc
 

[Christopher]

6E APG 1 74 has a build for Posession, that would be the first hit. If course that asumes it is actually a tactical/combat time power to begin with.

There is the "Mind Transfer" variant, however I would drastically reduce the value for this case.

The -1 asumes that the target is swapped into an operational body. If the original body is only a head (a body with almost complete paralysis but some persistent shrinking), that means the Mind Transfer is a lot less dangerous. Not like most targets could do a lot with "only the Head".

[Opale]

So to sum it up; I'd have to create a Transform power then a Multiform one, in order to produce the two effects.

 

The Transform Power affecting the PC, and the Multiform Power to allow the villain to "gain" the stolen Body Abilities

 

Out of curiosity, how would you all react if such an horrible thing happened to your characters ?