[ATE] Freaky Freakishness

[Bruno]

The bonus to detect or understand your mutations doesn't really apply to some of them.

Posit, for a moment, a mutant with the following traits.

• Brainy
• Hound Nose 1
• Razor Claws
• Rubber Neck
• Thick Hide 1
• Toothsome

He has Freakishness 18, good for three distinctive features to give people a +3 to identify that he's a mutant.

I... kinda think people figured that out around the time he had that second head. Similarly, you really don't need a bonus to figure out what two heads do. Or pointy teeth, or scaley skin, although knowing he has retractable pointy teeth and claws, and exactly how protective that skin is, is another thing.

This character has a few not-obvious traits (Hound Nose and Rubber Neck, and the Razor Claws sometimes aren't visible) so there's things to detect, but you could just as easily end up with a pretty Freakish mutant with nothing but Morphology mutations.

What do you do with that baked in Distinctive feature? It's almost nothing but a Disguise penalty at this point, and I feel my example guy needs more than a petty -3 to disguise himself as someone else, unless that person is also a scaly two-headed toothy mutant.

[PK]

Only morphology mutations are automatically detectable -- in your example, Brainy. The bonus from Freakishness applies to rolls to identify his other mutations, using rules that will be in ATE2.

If someone has only morphology mutations, the "bonus to identify other mutations" part isn't applicable, sure, but all of the other modifiers from Freakishness are.

[Mister Negative]

It might also be that his Freakishness also affects the ability of others to detect he's a mutant using methods other than sight.

The Brotherhood of the Pure might find that his mutant brainwaves show up more clearly on their Pure Thought detector.

The mutant-hunting rednecks down in the holler might find that their mutey-hound, Bessie, can sniff him out real good.

His mutation may affect his glands and secretions, meaning that people might be more easily able to determine he's a mutant from his fingerprints or blood stains.

Rather than giving "two heads" an exceptionally high Freakishness score, he's got a mutation that is both visually apparent, and 'pings' all the mutant detection methods just like fast healing and claws. I'm not saying it's the only way to run it, but it's not immediately evident that it's wrong, either.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Mister Negative

It might also be that his Freakishness also affects the ability of others to detect he's a mutant using methods other than sight.

That'd certainly be reasonable, yes. If, for whatever reason, someone couldn't see that he had two heads, Freakishness should add to whatever sense/sensor/method they are using to identify mutation.

Rather than giving "two heads" an exceptionally high Freakishness score, he's got a mutation that is both visually apparent, and 'pings' all the mutant detection methods just like fast healing and claws. I'm not saying it's the only way to run it, but it's not immediately evident that it's wrong, either.

I think you're missing that Brainy does give an exceptionally high (relative) Freakishness score. But as the rules say, this isn't because people have to roll to identify the person as a two-headed mutant -- it is immediately obvious to every non-blind person that this is a two-headed mutant! Instead, it is explicitly a relatively high bonus to identify all of his other mutations by sight. (Though I agree with your interpretation for other, non-visual methods of identification.)

[Bruno]

What should be the routine, then, for a character who is intended to have non-hidden traits? Other than probably an Appearance problem and an always-on Social Stigma.

Skin like an alligator, two heads, dog snouts on both heads, big jagged teeth, owl-like talons, and 360 vision explained by "has multiple heads and eyes on the sides of the heads".

Remove the switchable from Claws and Teeth, put a Nuisance Effect on DR, any changes to Freakishness?

[PK]

My suggestion in my upcoming mutation article is to represent ultrafreaky, obvious NPC mutants by reading the point cost of the mutation as its Freakishness. So Boosted Hemoglobin gives Freakishness 8 instead of 2 and so on. Since NPCs don't really track points, it's an easy switch to flip.