07-09-2020, 03:16 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
Unusual biochemistry actually specifies that food is fully compatible. If food isn't compatible, RAW you shouldn't take Unusual Biochemistry. Though in practice I'd ignore that and use it anyway if the actual Disadvantage effects (more or less compatible drugs with more side effects and some not working at all) held.
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07-09-2020, 04:09 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: South Dakota, USA
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
I think I had a 3e character that was going to have this Disadvantage, but never got around to it.
Many years later, I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (yay -_-) and saw some parallels. It is hardly an exact match, but with food (which Unusual Biochemistry doesn't affect) and medications (which it does), it at least resembles it. It is worth noting, for those that think the result ought to always be the same, that would make sense if all variables, and I mean all variables were the same. I've learned how rarely that can apply. XP Other foods, quantity, how well I slept the night before, etc. all affect how I'll react. One day, I can afford to take some Extra Strength Tylenol, the next day it may bother me a little, and the third day it'll cause more pain than it relieves.
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My GURPS Fourth Edition library consists of Basic Set: Characters, Basic Set: Campaigns, Martial Arts, Powers, Powers: Enhanced Senses, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, Power-Ups 6: Quirks, Power-Ups 8: Limitations, Powers, Social Engineering, Supers, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races, one issue of Pyramid (3/83) a.k.a. Alternate GURPS IV, GURPS Classic Rogues, and GURPS Classic Warriors. Most of which was provided through the generosity of others. Thanks! :) |
07-09-2020, 10:39 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
I'm somewhat surprised that the Vorkosigan book doesn't give Miles this, as it's mentioned several times that there are whole drug families that he can't take because of weird reactions to them. All it mentions is his odd reaction to Fast-Penta.
A now-retired NPC in my game has this. Due to being a genemod and bio-modded as well she required some dietary supplements (most readily obtained by refining human blood) and had odd reactions to a lot of drugs. So, Dependency and Unusual Biochemistry.
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07-09-2020, 11:01 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
I've used it in two ways but not actually as written;
In some book a plant-like race takes it as Unusual Biochemistry: Photosynthesis. It made sense to me and I still use it, but I should look it up again to see if it actually makes sense. I asked a while back about imitating 'positive' and 'negative' energy from That Other Game and reversing the effects worked out as a form of Unusual Biochemistry. It's a net negative because most forms of healing hurt you instead. |
07-09-2020, 11:50 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
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Unusual Biochemistry seems a bit like it's intended as a racial trait rather than an individual one - someone unique like Miles probably can't get personalized pharmaceutical variants at 10x price. Then again, the same could be said for Basic Set example character Xing La, who might not be biochemically unique in her home timeline Lenin-2 but may as well be as soon as she leaves. (And shopping for meds in post-apocalyptic-and-getting-worse Lennin-2 doesn't seem like a useful option.)
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07-10-2020, 03:23 AM | #16 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
Unusual Biochemistry is mainly a species or racial Disadvatage, not one normally taken by individuals.
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07-10-2020, 10:12 AM | #17 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
Mostly because only in supers universes can individuals get that weird. It also isn't appropriate in really cosmopolitan settings stuffed with aliens, with none of them particularly dominant an all of them Unusual to each other.
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07-10-2020, 10:18 AM | #18 | |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
Quote:
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07-10-2020, 10:51 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
That's the trait I recommended in Templates Toolkit 2 (see p. 25).
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07-10-2020, 11:16 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: South Dakota, USA
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Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry
Quote:
Maybe some of the finer aspects of it could use tweaking, and I might get into that later. Not just for representing my experience, but to make it a bit better for its original, intended purpose. The issue is avoiding going into too much detail, I think.
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My GURPS Fourth Edition library consists of Basic Set: Characters, Basic Set: Campaigns, Martial Arts, Powers, Powers: Enhanced Senses, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, Power-Ups 6: Quirks, Power-Ups 8: Limitations, Powers, Social Engineering, Supers, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races, one issue of Pyramid (3/83) a.k.a. Alternate GURPS IV, GURPS Classic Rogues, and GURPS Classic Warriors. Most of which was provided through the generosity of others. Thanks! :) Last edited by Otaku; 07-10-2020 at 11:21 AM. |
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