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Old 05-10-2021, 12:04 PM   #1
Shuckster
 
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Default Divine curse: Disposable Enemies

Basically this is just a curiosity I had, but if I wanted to have a character like say, a demon hunter who suffers from a curse that manifests a low-level demon that attacks them every single night.

If it's the same enemy every time they would have:
Regeneration (Fast; Only when dead, -40%) [30]; Unkillable 3 [150]; Automaton [-85]; Fragile (Unnatural) [-50]; Dead Broke [-25] (20 points total)
Just like the disposable Conjured Servant in this article
Otherwise it could be anything that fits the bill and is of the same point value, maybe having an appropriate "lesser summoned demon" meta-trait or something.

The reason this would be a divine curse and not a normal enemy disadvantage is because simply killing the enemy dose not stop the nightly attacks, nor could this simply be bought off with character points.

Basically if the divine curse includes the cost of this enemy who always shows up at regular intervals (such as nightly, weekly, monthly etc) and has this enemy appear at the characters location no mater where the demon hunter is, how exactly would this be codified on the character sheet? Has anyone done something like this before?
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Old 05-10-2021, 12:09 PM   #2
the_matrix_walker
 
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Default Re: Divine curse: Disposable Enemies

You can use Divine Curse: Monster Magnet from Monster Hunters: Champions and hand-wave the added details, or just price an appropriate enemy and note that the actual enemy varies... the GM may decide to give you the extra -5 points for an unknown enemy.
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Old 05-10-2021, 12:14 PM   #3
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Default Re: Divine curse: Disposable Enemies

Monster Hunters suggests Enemy (Monster of the week)- effectively the Enemy disadvantage (specifying, as usual, a frequency of appearance and a power level) with the special effect that the enemy faced may be different each time. This would seem like a similar case.
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Old 05-10-2021, 12:14 PM   #4
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: Divine curse: Disposable Enemies

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuckster View Post
Basically this is just a curiosity I had, but if I wanted to have a character like say, a demon hunter who suffers from a curse that manifests a low-level demon that attacks them every single night.

If it's the same enemy every time they would have:
Regeneration (Fast; Only when dead, -40%) [30]; Unkillable 3 [150]; Automaton [-85]; Fragile (Unnatural) [-50]; Dead Broke [-25] (20 points total)
Just like the disposable Conjured Servant in this article
Otherwise it could be anything that fits the bill and is of the same point value, maybe having an appropriate "lesser summoned demon" meta-trait or something.

The reason this would be a divine curse and not a normal enemy disadvantage is because simply killing the enemy dose not stop the nightly attacks, nor could this simply be bought off with character points.

Basically if the divine curse includes the cost of this enemy who always shows up at regular intervals (such as nightly, weekly, monthly etc) and has this enemy appear at the characters location no mater where the demon hunter is, how exactly would this be codified on the character sheet? Has anyone done something like this before?
Ignore the "summon demon" part. What are the effects of this? Does it do HP damage? FP? Cause an affliction?
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Old 05-10-2021, 12:59 PM   #5
Varyon
 
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Default Re: Divine curse: Disposable Enemies

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuckster View Post
The reason this would be a divine curse and not a normal enemy disadvantage is because simply killing the enemy dose not stop the nightly attacks, nor could this simply be bought off with character points.
It's generally accepted that killing off an Enemy is insufficient to remove the Disadvantage - unless combined with spending points, the Enemy either comes back or is replaced by a new Enemy (likely a vengeful family member/lover/friend/pet/whatever, but it's entirely possible the PC just gains a completely-unrelated Enemy, or some GM's might replace it with other Disadvantages of the same total cost), depending on what works for the setting. However, I do agree Divine Curse works well here, but you'll want price to be the same as for an Enemy - while not being able to buy it off (at least not without an extraordinary circumstance that removes the curse) arguably makes it worse than Enemy typically is, note Taboo Trait (Negated Disadvantage) has a similar effect, and is simply a Feature.

As for building it, considering a normal Enemy "comes back" if slain but not bought off, I don't think you need to account for the fact it comes back in its point budget. I'd probably put Reawakened [10] on it, however, to account for it learning from previous encounters. The fact it always appears around where you are implies something akin to Jumper or Warp, however, with a sizable Limitation (only usable once a day, only usable at night, anchored to the area surrounding the character, etc) that may well justify -80%, for [20] - however, like its Regeneration and Unkillable, I'd probably ignore this, as any Enemy who's Frequency of Appearance comes up ends up conveniently in the same location as the character. On the other hand, it may still be worthwhile, considering a normal Enemy still needs to approach your camp or whatever, while this one can just pop up more-or-less beside you. You'll also need to decide what happens on the off chance the demon is still around at sunrise - does it keep trying to kill the character, evaporate, or what? This may call for an additional Disadvantage.

For Frequency of Appearance, I'd probably say Constantly x4, but then put a Limitation of Night Only on the whole thing. Note that Limitation should probably be -80% on a Disadvantage; I'd round that to -75%, then just combine it with Constantly into an overall Feature - an Enemy that shows up every night, reliably at around the same time, is worth the same as an Enemy that shows up on a roll of 9 or lower.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice View Post
Ignore the "summon demon" part. What are the effects of this? Does it do HP damage? FP? Cause an affliction?
I'm working off the assumption this is like the Brand from Berserk, except with a single enemy that keeps showing up (and goes away for the night once slain) rather than Gatsu's army of spirits he has to contend with nearly-nightly (or at least had to, prior to getting a magical Band-Aid that sealed the Brand).
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Last edited by Varyon; 05-10-2021 at 01:03 PM.
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Old 05-10-2021, 02:36 PM   #6
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: Divine curse: Disposable Enemies

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
I'm working off the assumption this is like the Brand from Berserk, except with a single enemy that keeps showing up (and goes away for the night once slain) rather than Gatsu's army of spirits he has to contend with nearly-nightly (or at least had to, prior to getting a magical Band-Aid that sealed the Brand).
If it's a single enemy I wouldn't write it up as such. I'd just write up the effects it could do. If it rends your flesh then I'd do it up as Divine Curse of sorts that has that effect, maybe based on Weakness.
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