Help creating an Immortal

[Drakyrias]

The version of Immortals I'm trying to create are vaguely like the Highlander series, but with the caveats

1. that they can manifest their own blades. I'd actually like this blade to be something they have to acquire and bond themselves, but need a proper systematic to base this from. An immortal can only be permanently be killed by another immortal with their bonded blade.

2. When an immortal kills another immortal they will take on characteristics of the one they slay unless their will is exceptionally strong. This can even extend to their physical appearance altering subtly/dramatically.

Looking for help with some proper systems to base these features from. I'd like the 2nd trait to work as a potential drawback as much as a blessing. While in Highlander the Quickening let them gain the strength of the slain, this could actually lead to them getting their foibles and disads too.

As far as the actual mechanisms for the immortality I'm using a modified Undying, and Resurrection combination.

[Anaraxes]

1. "manifest their own blades"

Depending on your preference, this is probably either Payload, probably Extradimensional, which explains the ability to hide swords under coats, and works best if the blades are supposed to be real physical weapons; or else it's an Innate Attack (in which case the fact that a physical sword shows up and disappears can just be treated as colorful fluff)

2. "take on characteristics of the one they slay"

I'd use a mechanic similar to the Corruption rules from Horror. For however many N character points you absorb from slaying another immortal, you also get M points worth of traits assigned by the GM. The GM-chosen traits are typically personality features or appearance copied from the victim. Adjust N and M to get the right amount of transfer to go along with the benefit from the slaying to give you the feel that you're looking for.

If you want Will to matter, then you might roll a Will save to reduce or eliminate the "bad stuff" points that are acquired.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

What happens if a mortal kills an immortal?
What happens if an immortal kills another immortal other than a bonded blade?
Presumably they come back to life. Is it "gasp for breath as they revive where they lay"? "Instant teleport and revival in the nearest body of water"? Or something else? Do severed body parts regenerate? Do they have to be grabbed and held on to heal? Do they turn to dust and new ones grow? Are they permanently gone, barring supernatural/high tech intervention?

What happens if an immortal wants cybernetics? Bionics?

Have you considered "And I Must Scream" scenarios? Say, trapped underground - happened to two immortals for centuries each in Highlander: The Series. Neither ended well...

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by Drakyrias

As far as the actual mechanisms for the immortality I'm using a modified Undying, and Resurrection combination.

Are you using 3rd edition?

[Drakyrias]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

What happens if a mortal kills an immortal?
What happens if an immortal kills another immortal other than a bonded blade?
Presumably they come back to life. Is it "gasp for breath as they revive where they lay"? "Instant teleport and revival in the nearest body of water"? Or something else? Do severed body parts regenerate? Do they have to be grabbed and held on to heal? Do they turn to dust and new ones grow? Are they permanently gone, barring supernatural/high tech intervention?

What happens if an immortal wants cybernetics? Bionics?

Have you considered "And I Must Scream" scenarios? Say, trapped underground - happened to two immortals for centuries each in Highlander: The Series. Neither ended well...

In answer to your questions: Imortal vs Immortal using non bonded blade does not equal perm death (Ressurrection adv applies)
Mortal (or non-immortal (potentially opening this to greater gods and demons since this is for a supers game with an open pantheon of super types)) vs immortal equal non perm death.

They would revive wherever their body (or largest piece) is.

My reading of the Undying advantage is it includes a variant of Regrowth. hence its cost, so yes, they regrow lost limbs.

Your point about cybernetics however is well taken. Since cybenertics would be rare in my game but potentially available they should all have cyber-rejection.

Originally Posted by NineDaysDead

Are you using 3rd edition?

Yes I am. I meant to tag it.

[Andreas]

Perhaps immortals like those in Highlander should have some memory related advantage since they can remember things from very long ago well. The maximum memory capacity of the human brain also doesn't seem to be much of an issue for them (though I'm not sure how long it would take for that to matter).

Perhaps a version of Photographic Memory limited to only preserving memories at least a hundred years old (that way memory on human time scales would be the same) and perhaps also skill degradation if those rules are used.

[JoelSammallahti]

I ran a superhero game once with a >10,000-year-old immortal. (2,000 point character, too - you'd have to do really well against him to even get to the immortality part!) He had, among other things, a few levels of Wild Talent limited to pre-TL 6 skills, with the justification that whatever it was, he'd done it at some point. (I treated points in languages as points in skills in this campaign for this and a few other purposes, so he could also speak pretty much anything at a broken level when necessary.)

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by Andreas

Perhaps immortals like those in Highlander should have some memory related advantage since they can remember things from very long ago well. The maximum memory capacity of the human brain also doesn't seem to be much of an issue for them (though I'm not sure how long it would take for that to matter).

Perhaps a version of Photographic Memory limited to only preserving memories at least a hundred years old (that way memory on human time scales would be the same) and perhaps also skill degradation if those rules are used.

I don't know whether it's relevant to the OP's campaign, but the only immortal in Highlander: The Series to have forgotten things is Methos. Who's at least 5,000 years old.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

I don't know whether it's relevant to the OP's campaign, but the only immortal in Highlander: The Series to have forgotten things is Methos. Who's at least 5,000 years old.

Yes, them not forgetting such things is why I suggested such an advantage. By the way, wasn't that just Methos lying because he didn't want to talk about what kind of person he was in the past?

[Drakyrias]

Originally Posted by Andreas

Perhaps immortals like those in Highlander should have some memory related advantage since they can remember things from very long ago well. The maximum memory capacity of the human brain also doesn't seem to be much of an issue for them (though I'm not sure how long it would take for that to matter).

Perhaps a version of Photographic Memory limited to only preserving memories at least a hundred years old (that way memory on human time scales would be the same) and perhaps also skill degradation if those rules are used.

I tend to make the distinction between good memory and advantage quality memory. Even for an immortal (which I never actually watched the series, though I have watched the movies, and these immortals are slight deviations from those since with these immortals Connor after killing the Kurgan could have actually ended up looking like him or ended up needing to use the Kurgan's sword instead of a katana). For me remembering the famous duel on Boston common Connor had or his time learning from the Mong illusionist, is different then being able to perfectly and always being able to perfectly recall what kind of wine was popular in 1463 and the name of your neighbors kids in 1003.

The big events stand out, the minor stuff fades away. But eidetic memory imprints everything according to the advantage.