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Old 10-12-2014, 01:49 PM   #31
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by martinl View Post
You also need to decide if it is truly universal or just applies to those who are visually invested in the appearance of members of your species.

GURPS Appearance doesn't apply to the blind, aliens, weird uncle Stan, etc, so it's -4/lvl instead of the -5/lvl that universal reaction mods get.
I always assumed that it was -4 instead of -5 because it was sense based. The -5 versions found in Social Stigma and elsewhere still appear culturally or species specific. If a reaction were truly universal, I would think it would be worth -6 or more.
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Old 10-12-2014, 05:15 PM   #32
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

Gurps clearly contemplates something like this. Having beauty cycle all the way past Transcendent into Terrifying, where it intersects with Monstrous posits a theory of beauty made explicit in the text: you can have too much of a good thing.
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Old 10-12-2014, 05:46 PM   #33
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc View Post
On Topic: I wouldn't call this a net Disadvantage, by a small margin. It may cause problems here and there, but at the end of the day, weird beautiful is still beautiful to a lot of people. My build would probably look like:

Unearthly Beauty [4]: Appearance (Beautiful, often with Androgynous +0%) [12]; Classic Features (Doll-Like) [1]; OPH -1 (Creepy) [-5]; Photogenic [1]; Supernatural Features (Uncanny Valley) [-5].

Notes: This character is beautiful, but in an unsettlingly "perfect" way that spooks people in person unless that sort of thing is their specific kink, resulting in a lower reaction bonus than "perfect" would usually grant. In still photographs the weirdness (largely evident in bodily movement and frozen persistence of facial expression) is less obvious, and the Unearthly Beauty can truly shine, achieving effective Very Beautiful Appearance by default and possibly even Transcendent vs those with a doll kink. If somebody is specifically looking for a species with this trait, they receive the normal bonus with regard to Supernatural Features.

ETA: If you absolutely insist on making this a net negative, simply increase the Creepy OPH to -2 and you come in at [-1], for Unearthly Beauty effectively being a Quirk, or add Disturbing Voice [-10] for a [-6] total.
We can agree to disagree. In the original source material it causes more problems than it solves and that says straight up disadvantage to me.
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Old 10-12-2014, 05:52 PM   #34
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Is that what it does in Aberrant? That doesn't seem to be what Astromancer is describing at all.
Basically it's a type of Taint Feature. A sign of the warped nature of the Nova/Aberrant in question. It's creepy beauty. Beauty that lands you in the Uncanny Valley. A person that ought to be lovely but instead they creep you out.
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Old 10-12-2014, 06:02 PM   #35
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc View Post
I have thought that, but then I throw the metaphorical dice anyway. Lecherousness (12-) [-15] trumps Somewhat Insecure [-1] almost any day of the week.



On Topic: I wouldn't call this a net Disadvantage, by a small margin. It may cause problems here and there, but at the end of the day, weird beautiful is still beautiful to a lot of people. My build would probably look like:

Unearthly Beauty [4]: Appearance (Beautiful, often with Androgynous +0%) [12]; Classic Features (Doll-Like) [1]; OPH -1 (Creepy) [-5]; Photogenic [1]; Supernatural Features (Uncanny Valley) [-5].

Notes: This character is beautiful, but in an unsettlingly "perfect" way that spooks people in person unless that sort of thing is their specific kink, resulting in a lower reaction bonus than "perfect" would usually grant. In still photographs the weirdness (largely evident in bodily movement and frozen persistence of facial expression) is less obvious, and the Unearthly Beauty can truly shine, achieving effective Very Beautiful Appearance by default and possibly even Transcendent vs those with a doll kink. If somebody is specifically looking for a species with this trait, they receive the normal bonus with regard to Supernatural Features.

ETA: If you absolutely insist on making this a net negative, simply increase the Creepy OPH to -2 and you come in at [-1], for Unearthly Beauty effectively being a Quirk, or add Disturbing Voice [-10] for a [-6] total.
This looks interesting. It would be a good type of Appearence trait for all of my examples if you merely alter the perk. The strange creepy child would keep the Doll Like perk, but Faerie Maids might get a Wild Quality or Haunting Perk instead. Were as the Androids, Transhumans, and Superguys, might get a Coldly Perfect or Classic Formal Beauty Perk.
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Old 10-12-2014, 06:04 PM   #36
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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We can agree to disagree. In the original source material it causes more problems than it solves and that says straight up disadvantage to me.
Good point, but he's clearly on the right track.
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Old 10-12-2014, 08:26 PM   #37
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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We can agree to disagree. In the original source material it causes more problems than it solves and that says straight up disadvantage to me.
Going by what little we've seen, I've got to ask: how? I don't expect you to post the entire rules, but based on the basic definition, it seems like a classic case of "We thought it would be worse than it ended up being."

I'm reminded of One Piece; Devil Fruit powers costing the user his ability to function while in water deeper than knee level (or the equivalent) was played up as this huge thing in the beginning, but by now its more an inconvenience that can occasionally turn deadly (it is a setting that is basically Supers + Age of Sail).

So... what part am I missing? I also wonder if demographics play a role here; people who grew up on entertainment full of unintentional "uncanny valley" residents, at a fundamental level, may not be so creeped out by the concept as those who have not. "Taint" was mentioned in another post; is this supposed to come with some sort of Social Stigma (or related Disadvantage) like say Wyrm Taint in an Old World Of Darkness setting? I mean, White Wolf and all...
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Old 10-12-2014, 09:40 PM   #38
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post
We can agree to disagree. In the original source material it causes more problems than it solves and that says straight up disadvantage to me.
To represent the original game mechanic just get Unattractive and Social Stigma. But this design strikes me as being a better representation of the underlying concept underlying the original game mechanic.
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Old 10-13-2014, 09:05 AM   #39
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Otaku View Post
So... what part am I missing? I also wonder if demographics play a role here; people who grew up on entertainment full of unintentional "uncanny valley" residents, at a fundamental level, may not be so creeped out by the concept as those who have not. "Taint" was mentioned in another post; is this supposed to come with some sort of Social Stigma (or related Disadvantage) like say Wyrm Taint in an Old World Of Darkness setting? I mean, White Wolf and all...
In Aberrant (a White Wolf game) Taint is a manifestation of a character's losing their humanity because the power surging through them is warping them. Unearthly Beauty is a low level Taint manifestation that seems like a plus but acts as a steadily building trap.

My basic question is really, How in Gurps would you build a beauty that unnerves, alienates, and repels, while remaining beauty that lures and attracts.
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Old 10-13-2014, 06:21 PM   #40
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Default Re: Unearthly Beauty: as a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
My basic question is really, How in Gurps would you build a beauty that unnerves, alienates, and repels, while remaining beauty that lures and attracts.
Is there some part of G&A's build that strikes you as a poor way to do it?
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