Gaining sustenance from an action?

[PseudoFenton]

I know you can gain HP or FP via leech by causing fear or having prolonged (and specifically defined) contact with someone, but is there a way to gain actual sustenance from performing an action?

It's similar to Restricted Diet, except instead of it being limited to a specific sort of food, you can only gain sustenance from a specific action you perform, like scaring people or killing them with a power.

I've no idea how to go about building this, as it should in theory be a disadvantage of some sort as its only replacing you need to eat normally with a more restrictive set of criteria. So any suggestions are welcome.

[lexington]

I don't see any reason that Restricted Diet must involve a physical thing Restricted Diet (Uranium) wouldn't play any different from Restricted Diet (Go Through the Process of Obtaining Uranium but Don't Consume It).

[Tinman]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

I know you can gain HP or FP via leech by causing fear or having prolonged (and specifically defined) contact with someone, but is there a way to gain actual sustenance from performing an action?

It's similar to Restricted Diet, except instead of it being limited to a specific sort of food, you can only gain sustenance from a specific action you perform, like scaring people or killing them with a power.

I've no idea how to go about building this, as it should in theory be a disadvantage of some sort as its only replacing you need to eat normally with a more restrictive set of criteria. So any suggestions are welcome.

There is a perk in Psionic Powers, Blood Healing (under Psi Vampirism). If you touch someone you killed or mortally wounded you regain 1 FP or HP. BUT, you need to have a Psi Vamp ability to get the perk.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

I know you can gain HP or FP via leech by causing fear or having prolonged (and specifically defined) contact with someone, but is there a way to gain actual sustenance from performing an action?

It's similar to Restricted Diet, except instead of it being limited to a specific sort of food, you can only gain sustenance from a specific action you perform, like scaring people or killing them with a power.

I've no idea how to go about building this, as it should in theory be a disadvantage of some sort as its only replacing you need to eat normally with a more restrictive set of criteria. So any suggestions are welcome.

If they derive sustenance from both doing their thing and human food, then its' Reduced Consumption. If they derive sustenance from both doing their thing and human food, but may have problems if they consume human food, then its' Restricted Diet with Substitution. If they derive sustenance only from doing their thing, its' Restricted Diet.

Effect, not fluff. Fluff doesn't affect the point value of the trait.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by lexington

I don't see any reason that Restricted Diet must involve a physical thing Restricted Diet (Uranium) wouldn't play any different from Restricted Diet (Go Through the Process of Obtaining Uranium but Don't Consume It).

While your main point has good merit, I'll note that the example is a rather poor one:
In the former case, you get rid of uranium in order to "eat," meaning you have to get more each time, can stockpile it, and cannot use what you "eat" for anything else. In the latter case, you either only need to have a little to keep you going until it decomposes (lock it away in a box, then every time you need to "eat" you pick the lock, thus successfully obtaining it) or, with a more sane GM, have to get more each time, but cannot stockpile it. Additionally, the uranium you acquire in the act of "eating" can later be used in some way - armor piercing rounds, nuclear weapons, nuclear power plants, radiothermal generators, or simply sold on the (black) market. I'd call those as playing significantly differently.


On the task at hand, Restricted Diet is indeed the way to go, it's just that you'll need to work out how restrictive this is to determine point cost. You might be well served in looking at the pricing scheme for Dependency for this.

[GodBeastX]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

I know you can gain HP or FP via leech by causing fear or having prolonged (and specifically defined) contact with someone, but is there a way to gain actual sustenance from performing an action?

It's similar to Restricted Diet, except instead of it being limited to a specific sort of food, you can only gain sustenance from a specific action you perform, like scaring people or killing them with a power.

I've no idea how to go about building this, as it should in theory be a disadvantage of some sort as its only replacing you need to eat normally with a more restrictive set of criteria. So any suggestions are welcome.

Yes, restricted diet can be used for this situation.

Restricted Diet is meant for anything that causes slow starvation if denied it. However, make sure you decide if it's the action or the outcome that causes the nourishment.

For example, "Scaring Someone" is the meal or is "Fear" the meal?

Now, if you wither away and die, this is a Dependency which would do HP damage, not Restricted Diet.

[lexington]

Originally Posted by Varyon

While your main point has good merit, I'll note that the example is a rather poor one:
In the former case, you get rid of uranium in order to "eat," meaning you have to get more each time, can stockpile it, and cannot use what you "eat" for anything else. In the latter case, you either only need to have a little to keep you going until it decomposes (lock it away in a box, then every time you need to "eat" you pick the lock, thus successfully obtaining it) or, with a more sane GM, have to get more each time, but cannot stockpile it. Additionally, the uranium you acquire in the act of "eating" can later be used in some way - armor piercing rounds, nuclear weapons, nuclear power plants, radiothermal generators, or simply sold on the (black) market. I'd call those as playing significantly differently.


On the task at hand, Restricted Diet is indeed the way to go, it's just that you'll need to work out how restrictive this is to determine point cost. You might be well served in looking at the pricing scheme for Dependency for this.

That's a relevant point, if you can keep someone around to keep scaring for food the limitation is reduced. Off hand it's say remove a flat [-5] for being able to re-eat the item.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

I know you can gain HP or FP via leech by causing fear or having prolonged (and specifically defined) contact with someone, but is there a way to gain actual sustenance from performing an action?

It's similar to Restricted Diet, except instead of it being limited to a specific sort of food, you can only gain sustenance from a specific action you perform, like scaring people or killing them with a power.

I've no idea how to go about building this, as it should in theory be a disadvantage of some sort as its only replacing you need to eat normally with a more restrictive set of criteria. So any suggestions are welcome.

I've used Doesn't Eat or Drink [10] + Restricted Diet (Emotions or Specific Emotion) [-1 or -10] in the past. Worked fine as far as I could tell.

[Anaraxes]

Shouldn't there be a modifier for "legality class" of the action, as with the legality of drugs for Addiction or lethal intent of Enemies? That is, having to kill a human for food is more likely to upset other humans than the default having to kill an animal for food. Scaring a human wouldn't provoke as negative a reaction, and so return fewer points. Doing good deeds to make people happy might bring benefits, and cost points.

There's also the default assumption that food is "use once", after which it's destroyed. If the action were "sit near uranium for five minutes", then you're not bearing a repeated cost to obtain that uranium -- nor are you spending as much time eating as is the default.

Might tweak the value up or down somewhat depending on the details.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Shouldn't there be a modifier for "legality class" of the action, as with the legality of drugs for Addiction or lethal intent of Enemies? That is, having to kill a human for food is more likely to upset other humans than the default having to kill an animal for food. Scaring a human wouldn't provoke as negative a reaction, and so return fewer points. Doing good deeds to make people happy might bring benefits, and cost points.

There's also the default assumption that food is "use once", after which it's destroyed. If the action were "sit near uranium for five minutes", then you're not bearing a repeated cost to obtain that uranium -- nor are you spending as much time eating as is the default.

Might tweak the value up or down somewhat depending on the details.

I'd say maybe use the modifiers from Dependency then?