The Inevitable Monster Hunters Buffy Thread

[CousinX]

Since Buffy-verse was a major source of inspiration for the Monster Hunters line, it was only a matter of time before someone started the thread.

First topics of discussion: Slayer and Vampire templates. While the obvious answer is "Slayer = warrior/chosen one" and "Buffyverse vampire = MH vampire," neither is quite a perfect fit.

Going just from the show, the Slayer's capabilities are clearly superhuman, beyond even the cinematic awesomeness of the 400-point warrior template. Plus, her abilities tend to focus on unarmed combat, or combat with a stake, rather than blades.

Instead, I propose the following template, added to an otherwise typical 16 year old girl. A "beginning" Slayer would thus probably be a 500-point character, with fairly few skills and abilities outside those granted by her slayer-ness (bought with points from additional disads).

Slayer (600 points) (Updated)
Attributes: ST 23 [130]; DX 15 [100]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 13 [30].

Secondary Characteristics: Damage 2d+1/4d+1; BL 106 lbs.; HP 26 [6]; Will 12 [10]; Per 12 [10]; FP 13 [0]; Basic Speed 8.00 [20]; Basic Move 8 [0].

Advantages: Attribute Substitution (Flying Leap & Power Blow based on DX) [2]; Brave (Rule of 15: Fright Checks) [1]; Combat Reflexes [15]; Damage Resistance 2 (No Signature, Tough Skin) [8]; Damage Resistance 3 (Crushing only, No Signature, Tough Skin) [6]; Destiny [15]; Detect: Vampires [5]; Enhanced Parry 1 (All) [10]; Fearlessness 3 [6]; Fit, Very [15]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Higher Purpose +1: Kill Vampires [5]; Improvised Weapons (Slayer!) [1]; Luck [15]; Night Vision 5 [5]; Patron (Watchers' Council; Equipment, Political Influence, Minimal Intervention, Secret, 9 or less) [15]; Prophetic Dreams (Precog, Dreams only, Passive Only) [5]; Recovery [10]; Regeneration (1/hour) [25]; Slayer Talent 2 [10]; Trained by a Master (No Weapons, -35%) [20]; Weapon Master (All Weapons) [45]. • 25 points in background advantages (depending on where she grew up).

Disadvantages: Destiny/Duty (One Girl in All the World) [-15]; Enemy (The Forces of Darkness; 9 or less; Unknown) [-25]. • -40 points chosen from among Charitable [-15*], Code of Honor (Comics) [-15], Impulsive [-10*], Overconfidence [-5*], Sense of Duty (Companions) [-5], and social or background disadvantages.

Wildcard Skills: Slayer! DX+0 [24]-15. • 48 points spend among Blade!, Blunt!, Missiles!, and Slayer!

Secondary Skills: Flying Leap and Power Blow (H) DX [2]-16†; Hidden Lore (Vampires) and Occultism, both (A) IQ [2]-10; Mental Strength (E) Will+1 [2]-16†; and Stealth (A) DX [2]-15. • The techniques Kicking (Slayer!) (H) Skill+0 [3] and Thrust to Vitals (Stake/Slayer!) (H) Skill-1 [3].

Background Skills: 10 points in background skills (depending on where she grew up).

†Includes +2 from Slayer Talent; Flying Leap and Power Blow based on DX per Attribute Substitution.

Slayer Talent: +1/level to Blind Fighting, Flying Leap, Mental Strength, Power Blow, Push. Reaction bonus: rescued victims, etc.

Depending on how you see the Watchers, they might be either under or over-priced for what they offer at 15 points. From the series, they tended to cause more trouble than they solved when they actually showed up to intervene. They do, however, assure that the Slayer always has the information and weapons necessary to fight demons. I priced them assuming that 'Giles' (or his equivalent) would be a PC, and that the books and weapons in the 'library' would always be available. Therefor the Watchers proper would show up fairly infrequently, and usually act indirectly.

Template disadvantages are somewhat arbitrary, chosen mostly to balanced out the template, but also to try and represent the various drawbacks of Slayer-dom. Destiny/Duty represents the Slayers' calling and "sacred duty," as well as the tendency to have "tragically abbreviated life expentancies." Her Enemies are more than just "Monster of the Week," but routinely include groups and individuals at least as powerful as the Slayer herself.

For a Wildcard skill, I propose Slayer! It stands in for Karate and Judo (including all benefits and bonuses of those skills), all athletic skills (Acrobatics, Climbing, Forced Entry, Jumping, Lifting, Running, etc), as well as Crossbow, Throwing, and Knife or Thrown Weapon (Knife) when used with a wooden stake. Basically, roll against Slayer! for any slayer-esque feat of strength, agility, etc.

[Langy]

A Slayer is closer to a Demonspawn than anything else in MH1, both in the lore of the show and in actual abilities. Remove the Language and the Divine Curse from the Demonspawn template, remove the demon knowledge skills from the Inhuman template, and give it Weapon Master and Blade! and you'll get a pretty decent Slayer.

Slayers have a lot more strength than you've given them. They've got superhuman-level strength, around what a Demonspawn would have. EDIT: Oh, duh. that's +11, not ST 11. +11 works, too:p

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by CousinX

Since Buffy-verse was a major source of inspiration for the Monster Hunters line, it was only a matter of time before someone started the thread.

Aw crap, here we go. ;]

Originally Posted by CousinX

Going just from the show, the Slayer's capabilities are clearly superhuman, beyond even the cinematic awesomeness of the 400-point warrior template. Plus, her abilities tend to focus on unarmed combat, or combat with a stake, rather than blades.

Ehhh.. I think a lot of that has more to do with Joss thinking Hand-To-Hand looks cool and less to do with effectiveness. Buffy tends to engage with punches and kicks first and then use the stake as a coup d'grace (with several notable exceptions, usually when she's outnumbered), but in Season 7 she uses more than one bladed weapon and doesn't seem to have any problems. I think your blanket DX bonus is the way to go.

Originally Posted by CousinX

ST +11 [110]

This sounds right for the beginning, but it clearly increases over time; by Season 6 she's lifting that steel girder like it was made out of cork. This is also commented upon IC IIRC.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Damage Resistance 2 (Crushing Only; Tough Skin) [2]

This is how I did it in my write-up, but upon further reflection I think IT: 1/2 or even 1/3 vs Crushing might be appropriate. By S5 we're seeing Buffy take hits that send her flying across the room and visibly impacting a wall without more than a one-second shake-it-off.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Destiny [15]

Not standard. See ref: Kendra, Faith, most of the girls who are not Felicia Day in S7.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Hard to Kill 3 [6]

Not that anybody who will read this cares, but in case there's some noob out there watching: It's worth noting that HTK +3 is slightly redundant with HT +4 and Very Fit, because death checks are almost never penalized.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Magic Resistance 3 [6]

We see Slayers succumb to the effects of beneficial magic on a pretty regular basis, and hostile magic several times, including from enthusiastic amateurs like Amy. I'd leave it at the HT and Will bonus.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Super Jump 1 [10]

I'd probably use the optional High ST / Low Mass rule to represent this. A skinny little girl as strong as she is should be able to fling her own mass pretty far with minimal prep time.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Code of Honor (Slayer) [-15] [snippage] The Slayer's Code of Honor is generally like the Comics Code: fight evil, defend the innocent, and never kill a human. It's included with the template because it seems like a more-or-less supernatural force that compels Slayers to their calling -- even when they stray from it.

Does this really come with the powers? What about Faith? IMHO we have Joyce to credit for Buffy's strong moral compass.

Originally Posted by CousinX

Depending on how you see the Watchers, they might be either under or over-priced for what they offer at 15 points. From the series, they tended to cause more trouble than they solved when they actually showed up to intervene. They do, however, assure that the Slayer always has the information and weapons necessary to fight demons. I priced them assuming that 'Giles' (or his equivalent) would be a PC, and that the books and weapons in the 'library' would always be available. Therefor the Watchers proper would show up fairly infrequently, and usually act indirectly.

I'd call them a combination Patron and low-frequency Watcher (or maybe even Rival) Enemy, considering the "no powers drug / vampire steel cage match" episode. They didn't wish her dead, but what they did there easily could've killed her.

Originally Posted by CousinX

For a Wildcard skill, I propose Slayer! It stands in for Karate and Judo (including all benefits and bonuses of those skills), all athletic skills (Acrobatics, Climbing, Jumping, Lifting, Running, etc), as well as Crossbow, Throwing, and Knife or Thrown Weapon (Knife) when used with a wooden stake. Basically, roll against Slayer! for any slayer-esque feat of strength, agility, etc.

This makes me wince slightly, but I'd use it if Wildcards were in general use in the campaign.

[CousinX]

There are several differences between Buffyverse vampires and the template in MH1. Although they're highly resistant to metabolic hazards, they're not entirely immune -- they can be tranqed, poisoned, get drunk, etc. They're not unhealing, and in fact seem to regenerate ... drinking blood is occasionally shown to have healing effects, but it's more about sustenance than directly "vampirically" healing wounds. They've got an alternate form ("vampire face"), in which they're stronger, faster, and monstrous in appearance, although older ones apparently lose the ability to shift into "human face" form. They're actively repulsed by crosses (i.e. Dread). Both sunlight and holy objects burn them much faster than 1d/minute, potentially able to kill within seconds.

Vampire (170 or 200 points) (Updated)
ST +5 [50], DX +2 [40], HT+2 [20].
Per +2 [10].

Acute Taste and Smell 5 (Accessibility, Exposed blood only, -60%) [4], Can burn HP for extra effort [1], Discriminatory Smell (Emotion Sense, +50%) [23], Doesn’t Breathe [20], High Pain Threshold [10], Injury Tolerance (Unliving) [20], Night Vision 9 [9], Regeneration (Regular, 1/hour) [25], Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8) [15], Silence 1 [5], Temperature Tolerance 4 (Cold) [4], Unkillable 1 (Achilles’ Heel: Fire, decapitation, sunlight, or wooden stake through heart, -50%) [25].

Divine Curse (Cannot enter a private home without permission) [-5], Draining (Blood) [-5], Dread (Holy Object) [-10], Infectious Attack [-5], Supernatural Features (No Body Heat; No Reflection; Pallor) [-16], *Uncontrollable Appetite: Blood (12) [-15], Vulnerability (Heat/Fire x2) [-30], Vulnerability (Wooden stake through heart x2) [-10], Weakness (Sunlight; 1d per second; Variable, -40%) [-54], Weakness (Contact with holy water and objects; 1d per second) [-15]. *One of Bad Temper (9), Berserk (9), Bully (9), or Sadism (12) [-15].

*”White Hat” vampires (with souls, chips, etc) lack these, raising template cost to 200 point.

Note: Both weaknesses are amped up to 1d per second, which I gave a base value of -30 points.

Alternate Form: Vampire Face [69]
ST +3, Basic Speed +1.00, Vampiric Bite, Appearance: Monstrous.

[CousinX]

Originally Posted by Langy

A Slayer is closer to a Demonspawn than anything else in MH1, both in the lore of the show and in actual abilities. Remove the Language and the Divine Curse from the Demonspawn template, remove the demon knowledge skills from the Inhuman template, and give it Weapon Master and Blade! and you'll get a pretty decent Slayer.

That might work pretty well, actually. I'll look at that build and see if it seems to come close.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Ehhh.. I think a lot of that has more to do with Joss thinking Hand-To-Hand looks cool and less to do with effectiveness. Buffy tends to engage with punches and kicks first and then use the stake as a coup d'grace (with several notable exceptions, usually when she's outnumbered), but in Season 7 she uses more than one bladed weapon and doesn't seem to have any problems. I think your blanket DX bonus is the way to go.

By way of explanation, I was looking to the Warrior template from MH1 for inspiration, which has a focus on bladed weapons (Weapon Master and Blade! skill). I think Buffy probably became a weapon master later in the series, but slayer-ness seems to intrinsically include unarmed (i.e. TbaM and mad kung fu skills) more so than blade-mastery.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

This sounds right for the beginning, but it clearly increases over time; by Season 6 she's lifting that steel girder like it was made out of cork. This is also commented upon IC IIRC.

Totally, she should be able to buy up ST almost without limit. Most leveled advantages should also be power-up-able with earned points.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

This is how I did it in my write-up, but upon further reflection I think IT: 1/2 or even 1/3 vs Crushing might be appropriate. By S5 we're seeing Buffy take hits that send her flying across the room and visibly impacting a wall without more than a one-second shake-it-off.

Hmm. Let me tinker with it and I'll post a revised template.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Not standard. See ref: Kendra, Faith, most of the girls who are not Felicia Day in S7.

This is in reference to a MH-specific change: Destiny now works more like Luck, in that it gives "bonus" character points which can only be spent on things like upgrading success, Flesh Wounds, etc.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Not that anybody who will read this cares, but in case there's some noob out there watching: It's worth noting that HTK +3 is slightly redundant with HT +4 and Very Fit, because death checks are almost never penalized.

Good point...

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

We see Slayers succumb to the effects of beneficial magic on a pretty regular basis, and hostile magic several times, including from enthusiastic amateurs like Amy. I'd leave it at the HT and Will bonus.

Again, good point.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

I'd probably use the optional High ST / Low Mass rule to represent this. A skinny little girl as strong as she is should be able to fling her own mass pretty far with minimal prep time.

Her ST isn't quite high enough to eclipse her Move, so she doesn't get any benefit from the boxed rules on p. B352. Are there more beneficial ones somewhere else? Otherwise, she needs Super Jump to be able to make a standing, jump equal to her own height, which I'd say she can easily do.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Does this really come with the powers? What about Faith? IMHO we have Joyce to credit for Buffy's strong moral compass.

I'm thinking of how much Faith struggled with her deeds, and eventually redeemed herself ... it seemed like she was drawn back to her calling after she'd strayed.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

I'd call them a combination Patron and low-frequency Watcher (or maybe even Rival) Enemy, considering the "no powers drug / vampire steel cage match" episode. They didn't wish her dead, but what they did there easily could've killed her.

True, although I guess I'd look at that as more of a one-time adventure scenario than a recurring Enemy.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

This makes me wince slightly, but I'd use it if Wildcards were in general use in the campaign.

Wildcard skills get a bit of an overhaul in MH1, and they're definitely a feature of the MH campaign frame.

[Langy]

Now that I think about it, you could probably take the Warrior as-is and add the Demonspawn racial template to it and you'd get a Slayer, after removing the Curse and the Language from the template.

[CousinX]

Originally Posted by Langy

Now that I think about it, you could probably take the Warrior as-is and add the Demonspawn racial template to it and you'd get a Slayer, after removing the Curse and the Language from the template.

Closer, but I'd still be inclined to replace WM with TbaM and Blade! with something focusing on unarmed.

[dcarson]

Slayers should also get 3 levels of Less Sleep and extra Fatigue Points to deal with the normal life by day and patrol half the night.

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

This is how I did it in my write-up, but upon further reflection I think IT: 1/2 or even 1/3 vs Crushing might be appropriate. By S5 we're seeing Buffy take hits that send her flying across the room and visibly impacting a wall without more than a one-second shake-it-off.

She may well have both some Super-Toughness (DR, Crushing Only, Tough Skin at 1 CP per level) and some IT:DR, either general or Crushing Only as well, in addition to a good bit of her ST/HP being massless and therefore not counting against knockback. But besides all that, she's not the only character that gets thrown around by even slightly superstrong blows and hits walls without seeming to take anything like the actual damage that would explain it; this also occurs with Xander and Gunn over on Angel from time to time.

I suspect Cinematic Knockback needs to be a campaign rule - double all crushing, maybe cutting damage too, for purposes of figuring knockback. Trying to remember whether Wesley's gun play over on Angel got the effect as well...

[Langy]

Slayer Racial Template [200]:

Attribute Modifiers: ST+5 [50]; DX+2 [40]; HT+2 [20].
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Will+1 [5]; Per+1 [5].
Advantages: Detect (Vampires) [5]; DR 3 (No Signature, +20%; Tough Skin, -40%) [12]; Lifting ST 3 [9]; Recovery [10]; Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3) [10]; Regeneration (Regular) [25]; Super Jump 1 [10].
Quirks: Reacts as if she's a Demon to some things [-1].

This template is based upon the Demonspawn template, but is intended to be added to the Warrior template. To be a Slayer, you must take the Chosen One motivational lens and this racial template.

Buffy, in particular, has Trained by a Master instead of (or, possibly, in addition to) Weapon Master, as well as Slayer! (or possibly Unarmed!) instead of, or in addition to, Blade!, though her Slayer!/Unarmed! skill has more points in it than Blade!

She may have higher ST than I've given her, but I like the ST22/Lifting ST25 breakpoints because that nets you 2d/4d Thr/Sw damage as well as a nice, even number for BL (125 lbs). I'm not sure about the quirk, but I was one point off from it being nearly perfect, and I wasn't sure what kind of quirk to give it.