02-18-2014, 02:23 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Missouri
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Heroic Safe Mode
Is there an existing set of advantages to have a character have Heroic Safe Mode
If not, what should it cost? |
02-18-2014, 02:31 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Mental Alternate Form. In this case, your "base template" includes any mental Disadvantages you'd rather not have come into play while in Safe Mode, while the form you are changing into lacks these and might have other Disadvantages.
Away from my Basic Set, but a very bare-bones example would be a character with Sense of Duty and Guilt Complex. Their "Safe Mode" would lack these and have Bloodlust, Callous, and No Sense of Humor. As Alternate Form requires a good deal of time (10 seconds IIRC) to switch forms, or a lot of points invested in making it faster, this probably won't be too unbalanced. I think it's even a RAW option in BioTech. |
02-18-2014, 02:39 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: One Mile Up
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Based on the description at that tvtropes link (you are a bad, bad man, TroyGuffey), I'd say this is basically a case of Controllable Mental Disadvantage Perks (PU:2 p 12), probably Low Empathy or Callous (note that the two are mutually-exclusive by RAW). You could also sandwich the removal of compassionate/squeamish/timid/whatever-type Mental Disadvantages in with this by buying them as Personality Change Quirks that only kick in when the controllable Disadvantage is off, but that negates most of their value (which is kind of proper IMHO since you can toggle them at will, but someone will be along shortly to insist that you call it a -10% Limitation on the Disadvantage's full value).
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02-18-2014, 03:11 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Isn't that how player characters normally function? If anything, I could make a case for a character who doesn't function that way having various disadvantages: Combat Paralysis, or Pacifism (Reluctant Killer), or Post-Combat Shakes.
Alternatively, you could look at a Resistant or Immune trait. What you have to do then is define the roll that the character is better able to withstand. Perhaps it helps with Fright Checks? Bill Stoddard |
02-18-2014, 04:39 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Seattle
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Quote:
Maybe I'm wrong...
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02-24-2014, 09:01 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Milwaukee, WI
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Controllable Disadvantage: Split Personality would be what I use. Note that you can't snap back out of it once you turn it on.
Alternate form would work if you eventually want it off - you simply add things like aftermath and trigger to it to represent what causes it and the after effects. Alternatively, it's a "cold berserk."
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Just Bought: Succesful Job Search! Currently Buying off: Fat *Sigh* and Poverty. Number of signatures inspired: 1 Word of God and Word of Kromm are pretty much the same thing in my book |
02-24-2014, 09:24 AM | #7 |
Ceci n'est pas une tag.
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Vancouver, WA (Portland Metro)
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Canonically, you could look up Mark Piotr Vorkosigan's writeup in the GURPS Vorkosigan Saga book.
He has four "split personalities" which show up in different stress situations. From 3E, there's a character from GURPS Uplift (Jacob Demwa, IIRC?) who has a "split personality" show up when he needs it.
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I'm a collector, not a gamer. =) |
02-25-2014, 12:35 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Yucca Valley, CA
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Quote:
Of characters I built this way, one was a cold berserk, and the other was a psionic assassin with a Jekyll-like cover ID created by means of psychic surgery. She didn't just memorize a cover story, she became it, and forgot (Amnesia) all about her other skillset. This second character, I did not play myself; I built her for a player (my wife) who wanted a dark secret of which the character was unaware. She entered the campaign as Dr Jekyll, unaware of the circumstances that would trigger her secret mission. It was a brief campaign, but fun. Last edited by Gef; 02-25-2014 at 12:41 AM. |
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02-25-2014, 01:28 AM | #9 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Yes, from the Uplift trilogy (the only one there is), it was indeed Demwa who had that, in the first book. I can't recall if it is included in his writeup in "GURPS Uplift 2nd Edition", or even if Demwa himself has a writeup there, but if you claim it's there, then you're almost certainly correct.
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02-25-2014, 01:30 AM | #10 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Heroic Safe Mode
Quote:
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Tags |
combat, disaster, heroic safe mode |
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