Statting up a Dullahan

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Away from my books for the near future, but with something like this, I’d suggest eating the elephant one bite at a time - define the benefits and drawbacks of a permanently detached head and see if there are any GURPS traits that come close to such effects and work from there. You’ll also want to consider what actions the character can take to reduce/eliminate the drawbacks (and/or other Advantage he/she might have that would have a mitigating effect). Don’t be afraid to invent new Advantages based roughly on the cost of existing ones rather than trying to contort existing ones with a paragraph of Modifiers.

Breaking it down in this method, and assuming that I won't use an Ally, I've got:

Permanently Detatched Head Pros:
Movable viewpoint - Clairsentience (Increased Range, x20, +40%; Location Always at Head, -80%) [30]
Ranged Bite Attack - Natural Weapon (Crushing; Bite, +0%; Limited Use, Thrown, -5%; Ranged, +100%; Single, -20%) [9] + Weak Bite (No Bite, +50%) [-3]
Doesn’t have to view and work from the same angle - Maybe Flexible only for close quarters penalties or an Unusual Posture perk?
Can’t be decapitated - Injury Tolerance (No Neck; Can Still be choked or strangled, -40%) [3]

Permanently Detatched Head Cons:
Head position unstable unless held, secured or resting on flat surface - Unstable Head (Mitigator, Ribbon or Scarf to Secure Head, -60%) [-2] (Refluffed Klutz, equally inconvenient, but more likely to cause minor injury than expensive property damage)
Head has no mobility of it’s own - ?
Head can be lost, in which case body must work by touch - Blindness (Accessibility, only for actions using body, -20%; Mitigator, Head can see or is touching body, -60%) [-10]

Originally Posted by Gumby Bush

The Kaldane build you link to assumes the proximity of head and body for driving, which it sounds like you don't want.



The Minimal Software Template, for our purposes, is essentially IQ-10 [-100]; Dead Broke [-25]; (It adds reprogrammable and a social stigma because it's software, but that doesn't apply here)

Thanks, though upon further reflection, I'll probably use the stuff I mentioned above instead of an ally. It seems simpler and/or less cluttered.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Breaking it down in this method, and assuming that I won't use an Ally, I've got:

Permanently Detatched Head Pros:
Movable viewpoint - Clairsentience (Increased Range, x20, +40%; Location Always at Head, -80%) [30]
Ranged Bite Attack - Natural Weapon (Crushing; Bite, +0%; Limited Use, Thrown, -5%; Ranged, +100%; Single, -20%) [9] + Weak Bite (No Bite, +50%) [-3]
Doesn’t have to view and work from the same angle - Maybe Flexible only for close quarters penalties or an Unusual Posture perk?
Can’t be decapitated - Injury Tolerance (No Neck; Can Still be choked or strangled, -40%) [3]

Permanently Detatched Head Cons:
Head position unstable unless held, secured or resting on flat surface - Unstable Head (Mitigator, Ribbon or Scarf to Secure Head, -60%) [-2] (Refluffed Klutz, equally inconvenient, but more likely to cause minor injury than expensive property damage)
Head has no mobility of it’s own - ?
Head can be lost, in which case body must work by touch - Blindness (Accessibility, only for actions using body, -20%; Mitigator, Head can see or is touching body, -60%) [-10]



Thanks, though upon further reflection, I'll probably use the stuff I mentioned above instead of an ally. It seems simpler and/or less cluttered.

In short not having a head is garbage. if it's just a matter of having a detached head. That's why I'm more generous.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

In short not having a head is garbage. if it's just a matter of having a detached head. That's why I'm more generous.

I might still add Pararadar, but I sort of like the disadvantages, seeing as this is supposed to be a bit fluffier than the dullahan of legend. And, like I said before, there will definitely be Unkillable 3, I'm just not sure the head will be a weak point.

[Plane]

Horror 80 mentions the Headless Horsemen as specialized ghosts but doesn't appear to actually stat them...

One problem I can see with using "Independent Body Parts" is that this also allows your arms/legs to detach and fight independently and I'm not sure how to prevent that.

Given that the "Detachable Head" modifier (horror 15) treats wherever your sentience isn't located as an ally, I think Cowrie's idea of designing them as allies to begin with (and just ignoring Detachable Body Parts altogether) makes sense.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Dullahan: Unkillable 3 (Achilles Heel Detached Head), Pararadar. Clairvoyance and Clairaudience, location always at head -80% (blind and deaf if out of range)

Zombies 54 allows the "fatal flaw" for Supernatural Durability to be specified as a Headshot, so allowing that to be defined as an Achilles Heel for Unkillable seems to make sense if treating them as a collective unit.

If they're being defined as allies, then maybe the body could have a Dependence on the Head and die (or lose its Unkillability) if separated from it?

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by Plane

Horror 80 mentions the Headless Horsemen as specialized ghosts but doesn't appear to actually stat them...

One problem I can see with using "Independent Body Parts" is that this also allows your arms/legs to detach and fight independently and I'm not sure how to prevent that.

Given that the "Detachable Head" modifier (horror 15) treats wherever your sentience isn't located as an ally, I think Cowrie's idea of designing them as allies to begin with (and just ignoring Detachable Body Parts altogether) makes sense.



Zombies 54 allows the "fatal flaw" for Supernatural Durability to be specified as a Headshot, so allowing that to be defined as an Achilles Heel for Unkillable seems to make sense if treating them as a collective unit.

If they're being defined as allies, then maybe the body could have a Dependence on the Head and die (or lose its Unkillability) if separated from it?

If you look more closely at my OP, I was initially against using an Ally, since body parts as allies are often unbalanced. I still have doubts about that write-up for that reason. And, like I said before, I'm not sure I want the head as an Achilles Heel.

[naloth]

I'd use alternate form and duplication, where the head is necessary to survive (sequenced dupes) and each dupe is locked into one of the alternate forms. Alternate forms will have the limitation that each dupe can by only one of the two forms. Duplication will be "always on" since even if you put the head on the body, they are still functionally independent.

Depending on how the "body" can be replaced you can either use projection on duplication (fast replacement) or just build unkillable into the AF that the body has.

For an NPC it doesn't really matter how you build this. For a PC, "ally" means that the GM would control your body (not fun) or head (kind of interesting) while duplication gives you direct control of both.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by naloth

I'd use alternate form and duplication, where the head is necessary to survive (sequenced dupes) and each dupe is locked into one of the alternate forms. Alternate forms will have the limitation that each dupe can by only one of the two forms. Duplication will be "always on" since even if you put the head on the body, they are still functionally independent.

Depending on how the "body" can be replaced you can either use projection on duplication (fast replacement) or just build unkillable into the AF that the body has.

For an NPC it doesn't really matter how you build this. For a PC, "ally" means that the GM would control your body (not fun) or head (kind of interesting) while duplication gives you direct control of both.

First of all, like I said before, I'm mostly statting up a dullahan racial template just for the heck of it.

Turning to the build you suggest, this does solve a number of the problems with the ally build. For this build, would you say that each form would require the Duplication advantage? For the Always On limitation on that, I tend to think it would be at the -20% level, "physically inconvenient". For the limitation on the Alternate Form, I'm not sure what the value would be, though.

Where did you find something that allows Projection to be applied to Duplication, though? I can't find any sign of that being a thing. There is the Projected Form limitation for Alternate Form, but that doesn't seem like it would apply here.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

First of all, like I said before, I'm mostly statting up a dullahan racial template just for the heck of it.

Turning to the build you suggest, this does solve a number of the problems with the ally build. For this build, would you say that each form would require the Duplication advantage? For the Always On limitation on that, I tend to think it would be at the -20% level, "physically inconvenient". For the limitation on the Alternate Form, I'm not sure what the value would be, though.

There would be "one" shared character sheet with alternate form having "racial" meta-traits for the differences. Duplication would be part of the shared template. AF template 1 could be done via limitations on advantages, but it's cleaner to just build it as a meta-trait so you can add what you need to add.

For example:

ST 12 DX 11 IQ 12 HT 10
Alternate Form 2 (Dupes are locked into base form, and different for each)
- AF template 1: IT: No Head. Unkillable?
- AF template 2: No Manipulators, Sessile?, IT:DR less body.
Duplication (sequential - if the head dies both die, always on -20%)

Where did you find something that allows Projection to be applied to Duplication, though? I can't find any sign of that being a thing. There is the Projected Form limitation for Alternate Form, but that doesn't seem like it would apply here.

That should have been "Construct" rather than Projection. Basically it's just an alternate way to have a disposable (headless) body.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by naloth

There would be "one" shared character sheet with alternate form having "racial" meta-traits for the differences. Duplication would be part of the shared template. AF template 1 could be done via limitations on advantages, but it's cleaner to just build it as a meta-trait so you can add what you need to add.

For example:

ST 12 DX 11 IQ 12 HT 10
Alternate Form 2 (Dupes are locked into base form, and different for each)
- AF template 1: IT: No Head. Unkillable?
- AF template 2: No Manipulators, Sessile?, IT:DR less body.
Duplication (sequential - if the head dies both die, always on -20%)

Okay, this is just confusing me more. Why would there be two Alternate Forms? That would give three possible forms. The way it works is you have a base template, and then an alternate form that replaces that template. Also, I'm not sure you're entirely clear that the dullahan is supposed to be a template itself, not an individual character.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Okay, this is just confusing me more. Why would there be two Alternate Forms? That would give three possible forms. The way it works is you have a base template, and then an alternate form that replaces that template. Also, I'm not sure you're entirely clear that the dullahan is supposed to be a template itself, not an individual character.

Upon reflection it's probably better to do it as AF1 where you calculate the difference in the base templates.

I put the various traits in packages since those are what will swap out.

Base Meta-trait
Alternate Form (Head is first dupe, body is any "second" dupe; Always On -20%) [13]
Duplication (Construct* +60%; Sequential -40%) [42]
Total Cost for "shared" traits is 55 points.

Package 1) Body without head:
IT:DR No Eyes, Head, or Neck [17]

Package 2) Head without body:
Lame (Legless) [-30]
No Manipulators [-50]

For the final costs you have to figure out which form will be the base cost. For example, if you had a character that was either a cat or an elf, you could cost it as a cat that turns into an elf or an elf that turns into cat. Same trick here, head being the cat and body being the elf.

Figuring it as head (base) -> body: Shared costs 55 points + pkg 2 traits of -80 points + 90% of 97 pts (17 - -80). Total 63 points.

Figuring it as body (base) -> head: Shared costs 55 points + pkg 2 traits of 17 points. Since the second form is negative, you don't pay anything to swap to it. Total 72 points.

I used construct on Duplication because a) it's tends to be more potent since anytime you have 10 fatigue you can pop out another body b) it also tends to be cheaper than unkillable 2.