Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-17-2018, 09:57 AM   #11
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Wait, once the Modular Ability is set, the target can't rearrange it without a new contract, right? Add One Use Only (*1/5) to the MA. That'll save you a lot of points.
Nereidalbel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 10:00 AM   #12
bonafidenubbin
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

The modular ability is unlocked for the demon, not the target - the demon can't rearrange it, nor can she even USE it repeatedly. So that's why I added -80% for Only one use.

For example, Target A says he wants to be more handsome, and makes a pact with the Demon. The demon slaps him with one level of Enthrall and gains access to a Modular Ability, which she configures into Affliction (Advantage: Attractiveness, Very Handsome; modified to be Permanent). She then slaps that Affliction on him and voila, he's Very Handsome.

I'm hopeful the GM will agree that with Link, I can roll once for both accepting Enthrall/applying the Affliction, and also that curing Enthrall will cure the Affliction.
bonafidenubbin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 10:01 AM   #13
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

One Use is *1/5, not -80%. And yes, there is a difference.
Nereidalbel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 10:03 AM   #14
Kelly Pedersen
 
Kelly Pedersen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonafidenubbin View Post
Here's a thought, though: ideally, a single use of Enthrall gets you a single use of the Modular Ability. That is, it doesn't just turn on the Ability for now until forever, it enables the Ability for a single shot. Then the Ability's gone til the next contract.
You're right, this really isn't Modular Abilities at all. However, I don't think you're going to get any cheaper than what you've already got, because the ability to transform someone into anything you want is inherently a very powerful ability. The advantage you want to be looking at for Affliction purposes is, in my opinion, Morph. Specifically, Morph with Improvised Forms (from Powers), and almost certainly some extra points to allow you to add points above the target's base "template" cost.

If you're looking for a way to cheapen the cost of the Afflictions, remember that your Accessibility, Only on willing targets should apply to both Afflictions.
Kelly Pedersen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 10:03 AM   #15
bonafidenubbin
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Yes, I know there's a difference, but I don't see One Use anywhere in GCA - what sourcebook is it from?
bonafidenubbin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 10:06 AM   #16
bonafidenubbin
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Hmm, I don't know that I like Morph for this. I'm not changing their basic racial template - I'm doing moderate, limited physical shapeshifting on the individual. They might get an extra arm, get more handsome, gain some extra ST/HT, etc., but I won't be turning a human into an elf or anything like this.

Also, to be finicky, it's not that SHE is granting them a power - she's giving herself a power to use on them to grant their wishes.

To me, it's a modular ability because it's allowing the demon to create any Affliction (Advantage) she wants that fits within this narrow purview. Sure, it's an ability that's only briefly accessible for a single use per Enthrall, but it fits the bill of a flexible slot filled by a power selected from within a set of powers.
bonafidenubbin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 10:54 AM   #17
Kelly Pedersen
 
Kelly Pedersen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonafidenubbin View Post
Hmm, I don't know that I like Morph for this. I'm not changing their basic racial template - I'm doing moderate, limited physical shapeshifting on the individual.
Don't get too bogged down in Alternate Form/Morph's description of "changing racial templates" - that's game mechanic terminology, not necessarily in-world. A character with Morph and Improvised Forms is simply capable of transforming themselves - it's fine to define them as "a human who can grow bear paws" rather than "transforming into a bear-human hybrid".

Note that using Affliction with Alternate Form as the advantage is well-established as the build for "transform someone into something else".

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonafidenubbin
To me, it's a modular ability because it's allowing the demon to create any Affliction (Advantage) she wants that fits within this narrow purview.
Well, I'd allow that as a notable limitation on the Morph affliction as well. Put Accessibility, Only forms that match the subject's wishes, -50% on the Affliction.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonafidenubbin
Sure, it's an ability that's only briefly accessible for a single use per Enthrall, but it fits the bill of a flexible slot filled by a power selected from within a set of powers.
You could also do it with Modular Abilities, I conceed. However, I definitely wouldn't give you the 1/5th value for "One Use Only" - technically, that doesn't actually exist. The 1/5th cost option (which was originally presented in Supers, and also has a writeup in Impulse Buys) is actually to gain the potential ability to use the power, which then costs character points each time you actually use it.

However, when an Affliction afflicts an advantage, it's already usually one use only - if you Afflict Shrinking, for example, the target shrinks once. You can choose to Afflict the ability to use the advantage as if the target possessed it themselves instead, but I still wouldn't allow a one use only limitation on Modular Abilities. Or, rather, I wouldn't allow it to last: anything that limits an advantage that is normally on indefinitely to have a resource cost or limited uses gives it a default duration of one minute. So, if you gave someone Modular Abilities that they could use themselves, and put one use only on it, they could use it to transform themselves, but that transformation would only last a minute, at which point it would end and couldn't be recovered.
Kelly Pedersen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 11:03 AM   #18
sir_pudding
Wielder of Smart Pants
 
sir_pudding's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonafidenubbin View Post
Ooof, so. I like the Link solution, assuming my GM's cool with it, but now I've run into a terrible expense problem.

Removing Trigger (-30%) from Modular Abilities and adding Link (+10%) to it and Affliction (Enthrall) both... Enthrall costs 57 points and Modular Abilities costs a whopping 145! It's definitely more expensive than I was hoping.

Here's a thought, though: ideally, a single use of Enthrall gets you a single use of the Modular Ability. That is, it doesn't just turn on the Ability for now until forever, it enables the Ability for a single shot. Then the Ability's gone til the next contract.

I don't actually think I have that represented right now. It's more limiting than Maximum Duration or Limited Use. Would that be something like a -80% limitation?
You are afflicting Reorogrammable and a Cosmic Modular Ability, it should be expensive.
sir_pudding is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 11:07 AM   #19
sir_pudding
Wielder of Smart Pants
 
sir_pudding's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonafidenubbin View Post
Yes, I know there's a difference, but I don't see One Use anywhere in GCA - what sourcebook is it from?
Firstly using GCA as a rules guide is a bad idea. The program has a number of idiosyncrasies that don't match the rules exactly.

Secondly, abilities that cost character points are in Powers.
sir_pudding is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2018, 11:15 AM   #20
bonafidenubbin
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Default Re: Granting and Curing Afflictions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
A character with Morph and Improvised Forms is simply capable of transforming themselves - it's fine to define them as "a human who can grow bear paws" rather than "transforming into a bear-human hybrid".
I think the key here is that they aren't a human who CAN grow bear paws, with what I want to build - they are now a human with bear paws, now and forever (or at least until dispel.) No ability to switch.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
So, if you gave someone Modular Abilities that they could use themselves, and put one use only on it, they could use it to transform themselves, but that transformation would only last a minute, at which point it would end and couldn't be recovered.
The key here, IMO, is that the affliction gives the DEMON Modular Abilities. She then uses the Modular Ability to grant an Advantage to someone else.

Without some form of access/duration limitation on the Modular Ability, I believe the mechanical affect of it would be "as soon as X Target makes a contract to be handsome, the Demon sets her Modular Ability to Afflict (Very Handsome); she now can slap Very Handsome on as many people as she wants, but she can't change the nature of the Modular Ability."

That's definitely not what I want.

Does that make sense?
bonafidenubbin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
cure affliction

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:01 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.