[Alchemy/Chemicals] Boosted Effect ability?

[Adelus]

I'm trying to work this out for a friend's character idea.

The character has a unique and unusual biochemistry which results in them being more affected by potions and mundane chemicals harmful and benign. Generally this means that any effect and possibly duration they would suffer is heightened a step or two; a potion of growth would grow them larger than the effect's base magnitude, poisons would deal extra damage, etc.

I'm wondering how to model this ability; it sounds like a combination of an advantage and a disadvantage (or an advantage with a drawback that can be bought off with an enhancement). I'm not sure if there is already an existing ability for this, though.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Adelus

I'm trying to work this out for a friend's character idea.

The character has a unique and unusual biochemistry which results in them being more affected by potions and mundane chemicals harmful and benign. Generally this means that any effect and possibly duration they would suffer is heightened a step or two; a potion of growth would grow them larger than the effect's base magnitude, poisons would deal extra damage, etc.

I'm wondering how to model this ability; it sounds like a combination of an advantage and a disadvantage (or an advantage with a drawback that can be bought off with an enhancement). I'm not sure if there is already an existing ability for this, though.

Any help would be appreciated!

I'd probably call this Vulnerability (Alchemical Effects, x2) [-10] - it's comparable to Magic Susceptibility (p. B143) and use those same guidelines. Yeah, you get back more HP for healing potions, but when your enemies discovery that Death potions do 8d injury (4d on a successful HT roll) you're not going to last long.

[Adelus]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'd probably call this Vulnerability (Alchemical Effects, x2) [-10] - it's comparable to Magic Susceptibility (p. B143) and use those same guidelines. Yeah, you get back more HP for healing potions, but when your enemies discovery that Death potions do 8d injury (4d on a successful HT roll) you're not going to last long.

Ah! I hadn't considered using a purely disadvantageous route like this.

Out of curiosity, if you had a hypothetical controllable version of this - or one which only included doubling of positive effects - how would you switch it over to an advantage and how much would you charge for it then?

Likewise, if you had a purely disadvantageous version which doesn't let you get extra healing but lets that spiked drink with a dose of Drunkenness peg you for -6 to DX and IQ?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Adelus

Out of curiosity, if you had a hypothetical controllable version of this - or one which only included doubling of positive effects - how would you switch it over to an advantage and how much would you charge for it then?

Hmmm. I'd price it as an unusual background I think - around 10 or 20 points. Let's see, for healing only I'd go the same route (Unusual Background), but I'fd figure the cost using high HP. So "HP only for healing from alchemical potions" strikes me as a -60% to -50% for an accessibility modifier. So assuming an HP of 10 you'd need another 10 HP to double your healing. So that's 4 to 5 points. It's useful, but it requires that you have potions on hand to function.

Originally Posted by Adelus

Likewise, if you had a purely disadvantageous version which doesn't let you get extra healing but lets that spiked drink with a dose of Drunkenness peg you for -6 to DX and IQ?

Double the cost maybe? Perhaps just increase it by +50% or so. Seriously, even the small list of dangerous alchemical potions in Magic really suck to get hit with.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'd probably call this Vulnerability (Alchemical Effects, x2) [-10] - it's comparable to Magic Susceptibility (p. B143) and use those same guidelines. Yeah, you get back more HP for healing potions, but when your enemies discovery that Death potions do 8d injury (4d on a successful HT roll) you're not going to last long.

Usually in gurps, +X -X counts as an advantage as players are assumed to squeeze out as many benefits and minimize hindrances as possible.

[Wavefunction]

I'd call it a 0-point feature. If you want me to show my workings, it seems equivalent to a -10 point Vulnerability + an Advantage of equivalent magnitude to Very Rapid Healing without the lower level of Rapid Healing, i.e. 10 points. In our group we've always house-ruled Very Rapid Healing doubles healing from all sources. In this case your doubling all effects, but from a single source, it's fairly similar, hence the above design.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Usually in gurps, +X -X counts as an advantage as players are assumed to squeeze out as many benefits and minimize hindrances as possible.

Not always. That's why I very specifically pointed to Magic Susceptibility as the example an to basically follow its idiom, because you fully can be susceptible to Healing college (see Wizardly Weaknesses, GURPS Thaumatology, p. 22) only. Believe me, as someone who has GMed a munchkin who has tried this twice it really isn't as nice a boost as you think especially if you have NPCs who know magic and like to use torture. Anyways, that's what I'd do as a GM. For something more published...I'd have to think about it, I'd probably still go the UB route, but I'd play with it some more.