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Old 10-21-2020, 10:03 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

One of the odd things about Unkillable is that it is one of those abilities that are quite valuable even when heavily limited. For example, a character with Unkillable 3 (Achilles Heel, Common, -50%; Hindrance, Common, -25%; Magical, -10%) [30] is quite capable of returning to life as long as they avoid their Achilles Heel and Hindrance. If combined with Regeneration (Extreme; Bane, Occasional, -30%; Limited, Unkillable Only, -40%; Magical, -10%) [30], they can come back to life very quickly as long as the damage was not caused by their Bane. For 60 CP, they are capable of returning to life with full HP in less than a minute.

I was curious if you have used any relatively cheap combination of Regeneration and Unkillable that allowed for such rapid return to life? If so, how well did it work for you? Was it worth the CP or was it more of a hassle than a benefit?
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Old 10-22-2020, 01:32 AM   #2
Rupert
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
One of the odd things about Unkillable is that it is one of those abilities that are quite valuable even when heavily limited. For example, a character with Unkillable 3 (Achilles Heel, Common, -50%; Hindrance, Common, -25%; Magical, -10%) [30] is quite capable of returning to life as long as they avoid their Achilles Heel and Hindrance. If combined with Regeneration (Extreme; Bane, Occasional, -30%; Limited, Unkillable Only, -40%; Magical, -10%) [30], they can come back to life very quickly as long as the damage was not caused by their Bane. For 60 CP, they are capable of returning to life with full HP in less than a minute.
The damage needs to be not caused by their Bane and their Hindrance needs to not be present. Also, if killed in a no-mana zone, they're just dead.

The big thing is that the Achilles Heel is a -50% limitation, and that's effective a contract with the GM that says that the GM should put you at risk of being killed by something you can't come back from a lot of the time. Unless my character was being built on enough points that 30 points was in the 'nice to have, not at all character defining' range I'd not bother with it - putting the whole 60 points you've got in your example into a batter Regeneration would be more attractive - it's more generally useful. Alternatively, at 25 point per 'charge' Extra Life seems a lot more valuable. Sure it's one-use, but it always works.
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Old 10-22-2020, 06:06 AM   #3
Gumby Bush
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

If I wanted cheap unkillable, I'd stop at Unkillable 2.

Something like: Unkillable 2 (Limited Use, 4/day, -20%; Achilles Heel, Impaling Stone -30%; Hindrance, Stone, -25%; Trigger, touch of a friend, -5%) [20];

Load up on armor, get a nice big shield, flee stone golems and elementals, and don't run out of uses. Even 20 points isn't super cheap, but it's better than the 60 point charge (which eats all of a DF knight's advantage allotment, for instance). If you really need more than 4 uses a day, you need to buy off On The Edge (6) [-30]. Two uses would probably be fine: one to find out it's dangerous, one in case you have trouble leaving the danger.
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Old 10-22-2020, 06:43 AM   #4
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

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Originally Posted by Rupert View Post
effectively a contract with the GM that says that the GM should put you at risk of being killed by something you can't come back from a lot of the time.
Quite true. Compare that -50% discount with the Accessibility chart, where even -40% gets you an ability that only applies 1-6% of the time. Or in other words, on that scale, your Unkillable would save you from the thing you're actually being attacked with less than 5% of the time. "Common" is indeed pretty common -- something along the lines of "Achilles Heel - steel weapons" in your average fantasy game. It's not something exotic, unknown, hard to get, or unlikely to be used to kill someone. It's like being the Wicked Witch of the West -- not in Oz, but in a setting like the real world where "The Wizard of Oz" was a hugely successful film and a cornerstone of pop culture, so everyone's seen the bit about water dissolving witches and knows what your green skin and pointy hat mean.

Narratively, you practically have to turn that around, into a contract with the GM that says once or twice they'll find a way to get some dramatic effect by killing off the character with something that's not their Achilles Heel, so they can pop back up and show off their character trait. Otherwise, they're commonly just dead.

(Accessibility is always a good comparison for this kind of point, since it's uncharacteristically stingy on its utility discount :))
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Old 10-22-2020, 08:25 AM   #5
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

Common threats tend to be 1/10th of the threats faced by an individual. For example, damage type is a common threat, and damage type includes burning, corrosive, crushing, cutting, fatigue, impaling, piercing, and toxic (afflictions would be a very common category, so I am counting it as two common categories). If a character is facing a common threat more often than 1/10th of the time, then the GM may be acting in bad faith (it depends on the setting though, piercing damage should probably be considered very common in modern settings and is nearly synonymous with ranged attack in modern settings).
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Old 10-22-2020, 08:31 AM   #6
Gold & Appel Inc
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

This sounds pretty sweet to me personally even without the post-"death" Regeneration, but I'm looking at it in terms of my normal(ish) life where I have been subject to exactly one (1) murder attempt, not an adventure game. Barring some rather bad luck, and assuming I exercise my typical degree of caution and diplomacy, I never die unless somebody both knows my kryptonite is (whatever) and wants me dead? Sign me up!
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Old 10-22-2020, 08:52 AM   #7
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

The Regeneration can be lower without majorly impacting the concept. For example, Regeneration (Fast; Bane, Occasional, -30%; Limited, Unkillable Only, -40%; Magical, -10%) [10] would bring someone back to life in a few hours, which is probably sufficient for most character concepts. With the above limited Unkillable 3, it would be 40 CP to come back a few times a day, barring someone finding and using your Kryptonite.
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Old 10-22-2020, 09:23 AM   #8
Gold & Appel Inc
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

I'd be pretty happy to come back in a few months. Sure, I'd probably lose my job and my family would be pretty upset, but in the long view it's like doing a stretch in county without the boredom.
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Old 10-22-2020, 09:31 AM   #9
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

Unkillable 2 means that when you die and get buried, you will respawn there. Have fun recovering in your coffin, suffocating, ad nauseam.
Without other super powers, you ain't breaking out of the ground zombie/vampire style.
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Old 10-22-2020, 09:35 AM   #10
Gold & Appel Inc
 
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Default Re: Dirty Cheap Unkillable [Powers]

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Unkillable 2 means that when you die and get buried, you will respawn there. Have fun recovering in your coffin, suffocating, ad nauseam.
Without other super powers, you ain't breaking out of the ground zombie/vampire style.
Yeah, I was thinking of the first option, with level 3. "Where were you!?" "Oh, I had to leave town for a while..." "Jail, huh?" "Uh, yeah. You got me. They're really cracking down on unpaid parking tickets these days..."
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