Is Transcendent the limit?

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by SuedodeuS

As for Athena, she's a virgin goddess, and I suspect the reasons nobody lusts after her are a) she never takes off that armor, b) she's Zeus' favorite child, and c) she can outfight the god of war, do you think a human's going to stand a chance?

Someone on Wikipedia points out that her defining attributes are things that the Greeks would have considered "masculine", like warfare and wisdom. So of course they wouldn't emphasise her feminine aspect, including her beauty.

More generally - I think that, if you asked someone who believed in a polytheistic pantheon if a goddess would be beautiful, they'd say umm, yeah, obviously - if they don't have some specific reason for being hideous, like being a skeletal goddess of death or a gangrenous goddess of disease, of course - after all, they're a goddess. If you then asked if all such goddesses would be as beautiful as any being could be, the answer might be vague, but would probably be probably not, because there has to be some way that the goddess of beauty can be more beautiful than anyone else.

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by Stone Dog

I actually like having Terror be an additional effect on top of Transcendent. For a certain type of heart stopping, fearsome loveliness. Yes, Awe makes more sense for some types of characters, possibly for most. However, the old school nymph that could kill you with its beauty if you saw it unclothed might find a nice home snuggled up with a slightly retooled Terror advantage. Awe is nice for the "make people worship you" angle, but when you need to make somebody stop living with teh hawt... Terror is a good start.

Then Affliction.

How about the Innate Attack for actually turning the unprotected mortal partner to ash?

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi

But I'd think that no matter how attractive Hera was, only a complete blithering moron would want to anger Zeus by trying to go after her. And in fact, the problem with raping Leto was not that she was a goddess, or that nobody deserves to be raped, because the Greeks told stories of gods raping unmarried goddesses and didn't see any problem with it. No, in keeping with the ancient Greeks' legal attitude towards rape in general, the real crime was coveting Zeus' property because she was his former lover.

AFAIK, until recently, rape wasn't defined as having sex with a woman without her consent, but as having sex with a woman without her owner's (husbands or legal guardians) permission, without any consideration of what the woman wanted.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

More generally - I think that, if you asked someone who believed in a polytheistic pantheon if a goddess would be beautiful, they'd say umm, yeah, obviously - if they don't have some specific reason for being hideous, like being a skeletal goddess of death or a gangrenous goddess of disease

The Norse goddess Hel is half beautiful and half skeletal-and-diseased. I'm not sure how that should be statted up...

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

The Norse goddess Hel is half beautiful and half skeletal-and-diseased. I'm not sure how that should be statted up...

I would say monstrous with the special effect that from one side she's hot.
It's like your favorite cheesecake covered with poo. It doesn't matter how much you love cheesecake, you aren't that hungry.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I would say monstrous with the special effect that from one side she's hot.
It's like your favorite cheesecake covered with poo. It doesn't matter how much you love cheesecake, you aren't that hungry.

This would be a fairly good justification for having both Awe and Terror, depending on which side she shows. There is also at least one poem where she is corpselike below and living above, so that the surprise comes in the bedroom.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

AFAIK, until recently, rape wasn't defined as having sex with a woman without her consent, but as having sex with a woman without her owner's (husbands or legal guardians) permission, without any consideration of what the woman wanted.

Uh-hunh. Every woman Zeus boffed could have been entirely willing and eager, and he could have been a tender and considerate lover, and it still would have been rape to the Greeks.

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

There is also at least one poem where she is corpselike below and living above, so that the surprise comes in the bedroom.

Advantage: Appearance (Very Beautiful or Transcendent)
Disadvantage: Appearance (Monstrous) (Mitigator: Pants).

Essentially, she gets most of the benefits of her high appearance. It's just that she can't wear outfits that show skin below the waist (and wearing nothing at all is right out). For some humor related to this topic (and, surprisingly, in a safe-for-work format), see this Brat-halla comic.

[Vaevictis Asmadi]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

AFAIK, until recently, rape wasn't defined as having sex with a woman without her consent, but as having sex with a woman without her owner's (husbands or legal guardians) permission, without any consideration of what the woman wanted.

Exactly. Isn't misogyny fun? And these legal definitions didn't seem to consider that men could be raped, either. Or that a "defiled" ex-virgin rape victim was unwilling; she's still defiled and nobody will ever want her, or treat her with any respect.
The gods were also depicted as using deception on some of their mortal lovers, disguising themselves as mortals. Aeneas was terrified to find out he had slept with a goddess. He expected either to die, or to be struck impotent. Zeus disguised himself as Alkmene's husband to sleep with her.

Originally Posted by SuedodeuS

Advantage: Appearance (Very Beautiful or Transcendent)
Disadvantage: Appearance (Monstrous) (Mitigator: Pants).

XD
What disadvantages does she get for having two gangrenous, rotting legs? Bad Smell and maybe reduced Move?



There was a Pyramid article, long ago, which had new Appearance advantages and disadvantages. Glowing, Exceedingly Beautiful/Handsome, and Unearthly Beautiful/Handsome are the only ones I remember by name, but I never copied down what they do. I wish I had copied them down before the Pyramid archives were deleted, but I didn't know until after it happened. :(

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi

XD
What disadvantages does she get for having two gangrenous, rotting legs? Bad Smell and maybe reduced Move?

Maybe on the Bad Smell, most likely not on the reduced Move. If she does have Bad Smell, it most likely has a mitigator (maybe even just that pair of pants she wears to conceal her Monstrous Appearance) - afterall, if she smelled like rotting flesh her potential lover probably would have figured out something was amiss before she took her pants off. Plus stench is going to take away from the ZOMG hawt she normally has.