Help to design - Weirdboy Power.

[Sam Baughn]

I'm posting this seperately from my Warhammer 40k conversion because I need input on how to implement something in GURPS rules, rather than feedback on how well it fits the setting, so it's suitable for people who have no interest in the setting.

In the 40k setting, there are a race called 'orks' who have some kind of gestalt magical/psionic/superpower field generated by all members of their race. Certain individuals of that race, known as 'weirdboys' tap into that power and use it to create various effects, such as blasts of energy, teleporting or inspiring nearby orks to become more effective in combat.

None of those are especially difficult to do in GURPS; the tricky part is that (a) the weirdboy has little control over exactly which ability he uses, (b) it sometimes goes wrong, causing damage to the weirdboy and anyone standing nearby, (c) the amount of power available is dependent on the number of orks nearby and their emotional state and (d) a weirdboy can't stop drawing power and must 'vent' it by using his abilities or risk his head exploding. None of those really seem to fit anything I've seen in GURPS so far.

Has anyone got any suggestions?

[talonthehand]

Well, I haven't had a chance to work with Threshold magic yet, but part b sounds like the calamity aspect of that system. It isn't really dependant on using Magic as Spells if you prefer using powers. Part d I would describe as a Weakness to your Energy Reserve being full (how sick is that?), though unfortunately threshold magic doesn't use FP or ER, so it would take a bit of work combining the two. Part c could just be Energy Reserve with Granted by Familiar, though in this case the "familiar" would be any allied orks around you (I imagine that if two ork armies fought each other, a weirdboy couldn't channel the energy of the other side....though I don't actually know). Anywho, I imagine someone a bit more versed with doing custom systems will come along and offer you some better advice, but this might get you started.

Edit: The more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm not liking Granted By Familiar. The Stadium Ceremony (in thaumatology) version of ceremonial magic would be a better start for getting a group of people to contribute energy, but it'd probably need to be played with.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Perfect Organism

None of those are especially difficult to do in GURPS; the tricky part is that (a) the weirdboy has little control over exactly which ability he uses, (b) it sometimes goes wrong, causing damage to the weirdboy and anyone standing nearby, (c) the amount of power available is dependent on the number of orks nearby and their emotional state and (d) a weirdboy can't stop drawing power and must 'vent' it by using his abilities or risk his head exploding. None of those really seem to fit anything I've seen in GURPS so far.

a) Dunno... Is it completely random? Drawn from a limited set of abilities? Weighted towards certain ones?
b) Sounds like a form of Uncontrollable.
c) A tiered Accessibility is the way I would usually handle such things. Figure out the maximum power under the best possible circumstances, and get a limit value for the chance of those circumstances occurring. Do the same for the other possible levels of power, then average them out.
d) Not sure, but it sounds like a Nuisance Effect.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Do the Weirdboys have any control over this power?

If they don't, then they're just a channel for the power, in which case it's more of a disadvantage like a variation on Weirdness Magnet.

[Stone Dog]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

a) Dunno... Is it completely random? Drawn from a limited set of abilities? Weighted towards certain ones?

It is probably defined by orks as "Whatever da Waaaugh wants." The Waaaugh being the orkish ideal of a bunch of orcs thrashing something.

The wargame uses it as a set of abilities that a player can use every turn, but in a less limited set up many of the powers can probably go off at once.

b) Sounds like a form of Uncontrollable.

They probably just don't have much skill with it. The orkish mind doesn't lend itself to practice. They favor instinct and impulse over careful action and it is only because of the psychic field they generate that some of their "tech" works at all.

c) A tiered Accessibility is the way I would usually handle such things.

Maybe a single Realm magic would do. Weirdboys can sense, affect and in some small ways even control the Waaaugh, but since the Waaaugh is orks thrashing something and a Weirdboy is an ork, eventually the Weirdboy is going to subconsciously thrash those orks over there that took his last teeth one time.

d) Not sure, but it sounds like a Nuisance Effect.

Vulnerability, having a full ER?

But that is really just my first and idle thoughts on the matter.
Here is a link to more info.

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Do the Weirdboys have any control over this power?

Kinda. Imagine a type of ceremonial magic where participants don't have to be participating. All orks are participants all the time and all that power goes to the weirdboy whether he wants it or not. Sometimes he can ground it out, but not always. Eventually it will have to be used. It might bleed off into uncontrollable poltergeist activity or he might puke up a violent torrent of green energy.

[Stone Dog]

Normally I think I would take the Radiation Damage chart and rework it for orky purposes, but that would take us into the thousands of fatigue points and Weirdboys just aren't that powerful. Normally.

So instead, inverting the HT chart for dying characters might work just as well.

Weirdboys have no upper cap on their fatigue for psychic purposes. They absorb energy from other orcs around them according to how many orcs there are and how worked up they are about something. Having certain levels of fatigue in their system has the following effects.

1/3 your Fatigue or less- You are pretty happy. The 'eadaches are gone and you feel like a normal ork wot just wants to get in a good scrap.

Up to your Fatigue X1- Things are tolerable, but there is still that damn buzzing that being around other orcs causes. It is ******* you off a bit, better get in a good scrap to take your mind off it.

More than Fatigue X1- Things suck. You can feel every damn ork around you AND your head is pounding from the energy build up. You really need to find a good scrap and bleed some of this off.
Make an immediate Will roll or use whatever power lets go of the most fatigue regardless of if it is a good idea. If you fail or succeed by one or two points, psychic phenomenon ALSO plagues the area around you. If you critically fail this roll, you take damage directly to the head (not sure how much would be okay). Dying from this damage makes your head explode.
Make this roll every time you gather enough energy to be a multiple of your normal fatigue total.

Fatigue x5- Your head explodes.

Safety precautions.

1) Stay the hell away from other orks. Seriously. Those guys are not here to help you. They tell you that they don't want your head to explode, but that isn't true. They just want to shove you into a bunch of enemies before it happens.

2) Ground yourself out. Copper rods save stuff from lightning, right? And you have green lightning in your head, right? That means copper rods can save you from the green lightning in your head!* So live in a hut on copper stilts and carry around a copper stick to shove in the ground and you will be fine.
Being grounded will protect an orc from gathering a certain amount of energy. A properly grounded Weirdboy might be able to live in a whole town of orcs and only have to gather a few points per day, so long as there isn't a waaaugh in the making or a whole town riot.
When the Weirdboy is getting overloaded with energy, the copper has a tendency to start sparking. This is often a clue for other orcs to take their fight someplace else if it is a friendly** brawl between allied orcs, or to take the copper away from the Weirdboy and shove him at the other side if it is a friendly brawl between groups that don't know each other.


*(Note, this might not be true. Copper rods don't seem to help anybody else with psychic problems, but orks buy into the idea so completely that their general psychic field makes it happen. And it works for them, just like red paint makes vehicles faster than they should be.)

** As far as I can tell, all ork fights are friendly ones. Orks follow the Golden Rule completely. They love it when somebody comes around to try and kick the crap out of them, so they gleefully do it to everything else in the universe. And orks are good hosts and guests in a way, because they (almost) always save the very best violence for their guests and hosts.

[starslayer]

Give the weirdboy an always on, aura, leech effect, 1 point/10 minute FP, only on orcs, only draws 'free' FP (IE, only draws the FP that they don't need so the orc never actually feels 1 FP more tired).

Then buy multiple levels of energy reserve say in 10 point blocks; at each block level assign a progressively heavier nussiance effects.

That should handle 3 and 4 and provide a huge pool of FP for the weirdboy to power whatever makes up his powers.

Though since there is a relatively short list of actual powers; I might just give them 5 or 6 powers which are alternates of one another with uncontrollable on the master power so that if you fail your control roll you use a completely random power instead of the one you were trying for.

[Sam Baughn]

Originally Posted by starslayer

Give the weirdboy an always on, aura, leech effect, 1 point/10 minute FP, only on orcs, only draws 'free' FP (IE, only draws the FP that they don't need so the orc never actually feels 1 FP more tired).

That works well, although I think it might work better if I add a small Energy reserve to the Ork template and have the weirdboy leech that Energy Reserve - Orks shouldn't stop generating Waaagh energy because they are exerting themsevles physically and it takes care of the fact they can never actually be drained of their FP.

Originally Posted by starslayer

Then buy multiple levels of energy reserve say in 10 point blocks; at each block level assign a progressively heavier nussiance effects.

That seems like it could work. The top level could have a variant on the 'Cardiac Stress' limitation from Bio-Tech, which makes the weirdboy's head explode instead of giving him a heart attack if he critically fails his HT roll.

With the Uncontrollable limitation and some nasty temporary disadvantages on the Energy Reserve, I think I can get the random factor I want for the powers.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Perfect Organism

That works well, although I think it might work better if I add a small Energy reserve to the Ork template and have the weirdboy leech that Energy Reserve - Orks shouldn't stop generating Waaagh energy because they are exerting themsevles physically and it takes care of the fact they can never actually be drained of their FP.

I'd skip this step, and simply give the Weirdboy powers a Waagh power modifer and give the ERs special recharge (Waagh Level), then you just have to decide how much Waagh the local orks are currently generating.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I'd skip this step, and simply give the Weirdboy powers a Waagh power modifer and give the ERs special recharge (Waagh Level), then you just have to decide how much Waagh the local orks are currently generating.

I'll second this, it doesn't sound like you need Leech, just a variable recharge rate for the ER dependent upon the local conditions and the numbers of orks nearby.

In the same way an ER with recharge conditions based on women chattering nearby doesn't require you to Leech the chatter.