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Old 12-13-2010, 09:11 PM   #1
Verjigorm
 
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Default He who fights without a Head.

Throughout history, where martial cultures have risen, some men have always sought to not die, where lesser men would. In the Middle Ages, it was said that a Knight who wished could wait at a crossroads at night, and battle the devil. Johan was one of these. Johan was a fierce knight from the Metz region, known for his love of nothing more than to plunge into the midst of his enemies, striking them down left and right, it was said that Johan was immune to the blows of men, owing to the boon granted by Lucifer himself after Johan won their duel.

Johan's head was removed from his shoulders by the sword of a poor knight, freshly returned from Antioch, where he fought against the godless Turks. The knight retired into seclusion within a monastery, while the villages went back to peace and the honest labor of the field, free'd of Johan's brigandage. And Johan's mutilated, dismembered body was buried in the wild forest and forgotten, and he became nothing more than a boogey man, used to scare badly behaving children.

But lately, with the disappearances, and Old Aubrey's drunken ramblings, people are once again whispering the stories of how Johan's head continued to speak as it rolled along the ground, and of how it promised utter ruin and death to all those who had been present at his downfall. And of how the crusader knight had turned pale and old and wizened on that day.

But that's nonsense, and everyone knows it. Heresy and superstition. And besides, what man could fight without his head?

***

I had this idea of a headless master swordsman. He holds his severed head in one hand, while attacking with his sword. He eschews armor and shields, as he cannot be killed through normal means: he can only be vanquished by a weapon incorporating a Christian Relic or by being burnt in a special religious ritual of considerable complexity(also requiring relics). I think Unkillable 2(Achilles Heel: Relics?) would work.

He obviously should have no head, or should he? I want his body still reliant on his head: he still sees through his eyes, hears through his ears, etc. In battle he has to carry his head in his left hand. What sort of penalties should be assessed to this? Does the skull remain as hard to hit if handheld?
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Last edited by Verjigorm; 12-13-2010 at 09:13 PM. Reason: Wrong forum, can this be moved to the GURPS forum?
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Old 12-13-2010, 09:50 PM   #2
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

Shouldn't this be in GURPS?
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Old 12-13-2010, 10:27 PM   #3
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Shouldn't this be in GURPS?
I dunno- but it's freakin' made of METAL and WIN!
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Old 12-13-2010, 10:35 PM   #4
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

I reported it, requesting the move. So..uh..time will tell? I made a mistake.
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Old 12-13-2010, 10:38 PM   #5
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

Moved by poster request.
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Old 12-14-2010, 07:58 AM   #6
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

Well, by your description, he does have a head. It just isn't where it ought to be. At most, I'd take the time to reread the rules for IT:Removeable Body Parts, although I don't think that really applies here.

More importantly, does hitting him in the head offer the same penalties from the damage taken (-5 on knockdowns for getting hit in the face, blinded if his eyes are crippled and ignoring skull DR for purposes of a brain hit, or x4 damage mod on a skull hit?). If none of these apply, he has IT: No Head. If getting hit in the eyes neither blinds him, nor offers a x4 injury mod with no DR, he has IT: No Eyes. If neither an eye hit nor a skull hit offer a x4 injury mod, he has IT: No Brain.

In any case, I have the feeling he has IT: No Neck, since his head is off and getting hit there probably wouldn't inflict any more injury than he's already taken. If he's headless and the neck-stump hasn't clotted and healed, he is probably also a canidate for IT: No Blood - although that makes him immune to all bleeding rules. The neck-stump could just be healed over and starts bleeding profusely if gets his neck slit again (no IT: No Neck or No Blood).
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Old 12-14-2010, 09:02 AM   #7
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

Sounds like one of his arms is effectively his neck, just easier to target. I'd give him One Arm and a custom disadvantage reducing the penalty to hit his "neck" from -5 to -2. If he can drop and pick up the head again, then some version of IT:Removable Body Parts probably applies.
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Old 12-14-2010, 09:21 AM   #8
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

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Originally Posted by Dustin View Post
Sounds like one of his arms is effectively his neck, just easier to target. I'd give him One Arm and a custom disadvantage reducing the penalty to hit his "neck" from -5 to -2. If he can drop and pick up the head again, then some version of IT:Removable Body Parts probably applies.
The problem with that is that hitting an arm does not bump up the injury mod of a cutting attack to x2. That his arm is holding his head doesn't mean its suddenly more vulnerable to a particular type of damage.

The main question here is how, mechanically, not having a head would affect him. My guess impression from the OP's post is that Unkillable is sufficient and that targeting the head has the usual effects. That'd mean he doesn't have any ITs.
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Old 12-14-2010, 09:34 AM   #9
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

Answering from a "fluff" point of view, this beheaded warrior has a sort of Celtic Myth flavor, too. And Arthurian.

A beheaded warrior or combatant ranges from a devilish apparition to a mysterious otherworldly omen or divine theophany (*).

In Myth and Lore there are examples of beheaded characters alive and fighting, gods and even entire battalions, like in The Death of Muircertach mac Erca, or the goddess Durga Chinnanmasta, fighting with her head grasped in a hand while holding her weapon in other.

Additionally, I remember that GURPS Russia came first with a related spell. It's in 4e GURPS Magic: Decapitation (p. 42)


(*) See «Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Indra and Namuci» in Speculum XIX, 1944, pp. 104-25, and «Headless Magicians and an Act of Truth», Journal of the American Oriental Society 64, 1944, pp. 213-7.
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Old 12-14-2010, 09:41 AM   #10
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Default Re: He who fights without a Head.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verjigorm View Post
Throughout history, where martial cultures have risen, some men have always sought to not die, where lesser men would. In the Middle Ages, it was said that a Knight who wished could wait at a crossroads at night, and battle the devil. Johan was one of these. Johan was a fierce knight from the Metz region, known for his love of nothing more than to plunge into the midst of his enemies, striking them down left and right, it was said that Johan was immune to the blows of men, owing to the boon granted by Lucifer himself after Johan won their duel.

Johan's head was removed from his shoulders by the sword of a poor knight, freshly returned from Antioch, where he fought against the godless Turks. The knight retired into seclusion within a monastery, while the villages went back to peace and the honest labor of the field, free'd of Johan's brigandage. And Johan's mutilated, dismembered body was buried in the wild forest and forgotten, and he became nothing more than a boogey man, used to scare badly behaving children.

But lately, with the disappearances, and Old Aubrey's drunken ramblings, people are once again whispering the stories of how Johan's head continued to speak as it rolled along the ground, and of how it promised utter ruin and death to all those who had been present at his downfall. And of how the crusader knight had turned pale and old and wizened on that day.

But that's nonsense, and everyone knows it. Heresy and superstition. And besides, what man could fight without his head?

***

I had this idea of a headless master swordsman. He holds his severed head in one hand, while attacking with his sword. He eschews armor and shields, as he cannot be killed through normal means: he can only be vanquished by a weapon incorporating a Christian Relic or by being burnt in a special religious ritual of considerable complexity(also requiring relics). I think Unkillable 2(Achilles Heel: Relics?) would work.

He obviously should have no head, or should he? I want his body still reliant on his head: he still sees through his eyes, hears through his ears, etc. In battle he has to carry his head in his left hand. What sort of penalties should be assessed to this? Does the skull remain as hard to hit if handheld?
Is this for a PC or NPC?
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