[DF] Devil power help

[ericthered]

Another effect you could have his to lower the CR of the disadvantage by three for a failed will roll, effective only vs. the devil, in addition to forcing the will rolls.

I also think that -20% is a cheap price for "only affects advantages the target already has". sure, lots of the characters will have disadvantages, but having the right one can be kind of iffy.

I mean, looking at the "Iconic characters" in the back of basic, C31R07 has "humble", which is going to be really hard to use, Dai has "overconfidence", which will also be hard, D'Antares has gambling and overconfidence, which are a little more workable, but gambling will take time. Headly has ... almost nothing, Iotha has only jealousy, which has no CR, Sora looks safe, xing has gluttony, which is... workable with time. The Baron is an idea target, but he's a vampire, what did you expect?

As a final rundown, of the iconic characters, three have nothing to target, one has the "flaw" humble, two have flaws that will take time, two have flaws that require a nice set up (overconfidence), and one is a nice target.

I would bump up the discount quite a bit. You are extremely limited in who you can target and how you can target them.

If you want this to be effective during combat you will want mind control. Of course, if I were to use it (and I very well may) I would likely give the devils some ability to tempt outside of combat, either by being invisible or impersonating mortals.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I also think that -20% is a cheap price for "only affects advantages the target already has". sure, lots of the characters will have disadvantages, but having the right one can be kind of iffy.

I mean, looking at the "Iconic characters" in the back of basic, C31R07 has "humble", which is going to be really hard to use, Dai has "overconfidence", which will also be hard, D'Antares has gambling and overconfidence, which are a little more workable, but gambling will take time. Headly has ... almost nothing, Iotha has only jealousy, which has no CR, Sora looks safe, xing has gluttony, which is... workable with time. The Baron is an idea target, but he's a vampire, what did you expect?

As a final rundown, of the iconic characters, three have nothing to target, one has the "flaw" humble, two have flaws that will take time, two have flaws that require a nice set up (overconfidence), and one is a nice target.

I would bump up the discount quite a bit. You are extremely limited in who you can target and how you can target them.

A -20% Accessibility means that it works between 44% and 56% of the time. Out of eight iconic characters, it can't hit three. 3 immune out of 8 possible targets means it works 62.5% of the time. As such, -20% is too high and so it should be a -15% limitation instead. (Powers, pg 99)

[Dr. Whom]

In my game, the PC's came across some succubus. They were tempted but didn't die. What they didn't know is that they caught A STD (Sexually Transmitted Deviancy), which would have them do bad things at the most inappropriate times...

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

"Gaze Into The Abyss" / "Perceive the Mortal Weakness"

Detect ("Sin") (Common)
Modifiers: Analyzing, +100%; Reflexive, +40%; Power Modifier, -10%; Sense-Based (Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch, Vision), -0%

"And The Abyss Gazes Into You" / "Wicked Graceful Whispers"

Affliction 1
Modifiers: Based on Will, +20%; Malediction (Speed/Range Table), +150%; Variable Disadvantage (up to -30), +300%; Accessibility (Only to afflict disadvantages the target already has), -20%; Power Modifier, -10%; Sense-Based (Hearing), -20%

Very nice. Nitpick: I'd make the cap on the Variable Disadvantage -38 instead of -30, so that even [-15*] Disadvantages could have their Self Control numbers reduced to autofail for 2.5x cost.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

A -20% Accessibility means that it works between 44% and 56% of the time. Out of eight iconic characters, it can't hit three. 3 immune out of 8 possible targets means it works 62.5% of the time. As such, -20% is too high and so it should be a -15% limitation instead. (Powers, pg 99)

Ahhh..... So being humble is a sin and thematically appropriate for a devil to manipulate? good to know.

If the affliction could hit 50% of the characters with everything it had, I'd agree. As it stands right now, It limited not only in who it can target, but what it can target them with. meaning right now its priced as an affliction that hits 50% of people with 30 points of disadvantage all the time.

[Humabout]

As I recall, GURPS Horror has Only Human Weakness listed as a -30% accessibility limitation on Empathy. That could probably be ported over to Mind Reading or Mind Probe, for devils that can learn specific sins.

Blasphemy just sounds like an innate attack with a linked affliction.

[b-dog]

I have another idea that is sort of the Black Magic rule for all of the PCs. The Devil is active in my campaign and likes to tempt the PCs with powers and other enticements. The Devil wants the souls of men and having man choose evil makes things much better. So the Devil will likely offer assistance to PCs in their time of need for a small price of course. The PC will gain some power or make a die roll or be able to escape some danger in exchange for a very small part of his soul. This might add a black point like on black magic rules. When the PC has enough black points then the soul of the PC belongs to the Devil and the PC is out of the players control.

For instance, a PC is cornered by a Peshkali demon and it seems as if his dungeon delving days are over until a voice whispers to him that PC could escape for a small price.... Well, the PC agrees to the voice and as the Peshkali closes in on the PC the dungeon door opens and a bunch of orcs file into the room causing the Peshkali to turn around and attack the intruders. While the Peshkali and orcs settle their dispute there is time for the PC to make an escape and he does so but in the process he picks up a black point. The PC now knows that when there is trouble, there is friend who can help him...

[Anders]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Ahhh..... So being humble is a sin and thematically appropriate for a devil to manipulate? good to know.

You could use it to raise the self control number for 'good' disadvantages. I think.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Ahhh..... So being humble is a sin and thematically appropriate for a devil to manipulate? good to know.

It can be, yes. Depends on the how and why of it.

If the affliction could hit 50% of the characters with everything it had, I'd agree. As it stands right now, It limited not only in who it can target, but what it can target them with. meaning right now its priced as an affliction that hits 50% of people with 30 points of disadvantage all the time.

Its' not limited in who it can target. It is limited in what it can target them with. It can only afflict disadvantages that the target already has.

Its' priced as an affliction that can hit anyone but can only do things to about half of the characters it hits.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by b-dog

I have another idea that is sort of the Black Magic rule for all of the PCs. The Devil is active in my campaign and likes to tempt the PCs with powers and other enticements. The Devil wants the souls of men and having man choose evil makes things much better. So the Devil will likely offer assistance to PCs in their time of need for a small price of course. The PC will gain some power or make a die roll or be able to escape some danger in exchange for a very small part of his soul. This might add a black point like on black magic rules. When the PC has enough black points then the soul of the PC belongs to the Devil and the PC is out of the players control.

An interesting idea. I'm not such a fan of having "Dark Side Points" simply turn the PC into an evil NPC. Instead, it's much more interesting to make the player play an "evil" PC, by gradually giving him malicious mental maladies - er, I mean Disadvantages. The Corruption rules from Horror work like this, and could be tweaked to fit. That's also basically how Black Magic works too; at no point does the player lose the PC, he just gets saddled with additional disadvantages. At some point the GM and player may agree to let the PC go, at which point he becomes an NPC and the player makes a new character. But I wouldn't want to remove that choice from the player.