Statting up a Dullahan

[AlexanderHowl]

I would actually model the head with Injury Tolerance (Independent Body Parts; Detachable Head, +15%; No Reattachment, -60%) [17]. In the case of the Duradara!! dullahan, I would also add Ally (Mount, Constant, 150%; Special Powers, +50%; Summonable, +100%; Sympathy, Death, -50%) [80], Appearance (Transcendent) [20], Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Injury Tolerance (Diffuse; Infiltration, +40%; Switchable, +5%) [145], and Unaging [15]. Her shadow manipulation powers come from her mount, as well as a few other abilities.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The Pararadar is so it can navigate. After all, it's eyes and ears are always with the head. The Dullahan is a kind of half-ghost half-fairie. I visualize as it disappearing before it can be finally slain. But find and destroy the head and it can be slain. Someone could also threaten the Dullahan into serving them by holding the head hostage.

Ah, that makes sense now. While the dullahan template will definitely have Unkillable 3 with Achilles Heel, I'm still not sure the head will be the Achilles Heel. I originally planned for that to be gold, which the template also has a Vulnerability to, and maybe a Weakness, Revulsion or Dread. I'd prefer Revulsion, but it doesn't allow for Rare categories, and I find it hard to justify gold as Occasional.

Originally Posted by kdtipa

Since I don't think any players are likely to be a Dullahan, I'd be really tempted to hand wave it... as the GM I think I'd just say: its head is separate. The body can sense where the head is. One of its arms and hands is usually taken up by holding the head.
[...]
The more I think about this, the more I think: hand wave it for NPCs, and just disallow it for PCs.

To be honest, I'm not sure this will actually ever come up in a game. I'm mostly doing this for fun.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I would actually model the head with Injury Tolerance (Independent Body Parts; Detachable Head, +15%; No Reattachment, -60%) [17]. In the case of the Duradara!! dullahan, I would also add Ally (Mount, Constant, 150%; Special Powers, +50%; Summonable, +100%; Sympathy, Death, -50%) [80], Appearance (Transcendent) [20], Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Injury Tolerance (Diffuse; Infiltration, +40%; Switchable, +5%) [145], and Unaging [15]. Her shadow manipulation powers come from her mount, as well as a few other abilities.

I don't like the Independent Body Parts build for a couple of reasons. One, it effectively gives a free ally, and another, it also allows other body parts to remain animate if severed. The latter issue could be solved with a limitation, but the first one still remains. As for the other stuff, you have to realize, I'm not depicting the dullahan from some anime I'd never heard of until yesterday. For my dullahan race, mounts are usually allies, but they're bought on an individual rather than racial basis, not shapeshifting, and don't grant any extra abilities. (At least not usually. There may be execptions that do grant abilities, but for those I'd look to mythology rather than anime.)
Appearance is at least as variable as humans, with no racial appearance; they're never Transcendent, though appearance can potentially be lower than typically allowed for humans. They're more fae than undead, so metabolic hazards do affect them. They don't pass through tiny spaces, they genuinely open locks. They certainly don't manipulate shadows. The only trait you listed that actually applies to my concept of dullahan is Unaging, and I already had that.

On the note of them unlocking stuff, I'm currently representing that by converting the Lockmaster spell into an advantage as per Pyramid #3/44, and applying some heavy modifiers. Admittedly, those modifiers include a couple that should be used with caution according to the article, and two that are normally forbidden due to being attack modifiers, but since Area Effect is often applied to other non-attacks, and Emanation just means the area is centered on the dullahan, I don't think it's too game-breaking.

[Gumby Bush]

I lean heavily toward Ally (constantly x4; Cosmic, built and played by PC, +300%), particularly if your objection to the independent body parts build is that it feels like it gives a free ally. Don't allow the based on 150% of points level of ally, of course.

However, to get the two parts to fully act as one, they should have (almost) all the same skills. Modular Abilities with Reduced Time feels like cheating to me, but I haven't statted it out. Maybe build them both as far as what differs (putting Ally on one of them), buy the based on 100% version of Ally as modified above, and buy what is the same for both of them together, kind of like how Alternate Form works.
The Mindlink and Telepathy abilities I mentioned before will enable them to know what each other knows. Limit the telepathy with an advanced version of racial so it only works for that purpose.

[Cowrie]

Based on a somewhat similar situation I found on the forums, if going the Ally route, what about statting up the body as a "vehicle" with a single level of Compartmentalized Mind (Controls), and possibly IQ 0? Do you think that would be viable?

[Gumby Bush]

Maybe, but then I think the head would need to be near the body to "drive" it (maybe check how Transhuman Space handles tele-operating a shell?). Where's the similar situation? I'd like to take a look.

Off the top of my head, Possession might work better here. I'd have to think it over and consult my books, though.

[Cowrie]

I found this when doing a google search of the forums for 'headless': http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=137168

I'll look into what TS says on the matter. And, you may be right. Possession with Telecontrol and either Mindlink Required or Puppet Only might work for this.

[AlexanderHowl]

Independent Body Parts with Detachable Head allows the head to act as an ally if you also have No Brain (Horror, p. 15). Since it would be a 17 CP trait with No Reattachment, it is hardly a 'free' ally.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Independent Body Parts with Detachable Head allows the head to act as an ally if you also have No Brain (Horror, p. 15). Since it would be a 17 CP trait with No Reattachment, it is hardly a 'free' ally.

I'm in the process of statting up the head and body as two different characters. Currently, the head is worth nearly 150% of the body. I would absolutely give the ally for this set-up a Constant frequency. It may not be completely free, but it's a sizable discount. Besides, if you have a permanent ally, you should have to pay for the ally, not the reason you have it. Just let it go, Independent Body Parts works poorly for a dullahan.

[Varyon]

Away from my books for the near future, but with something like this, I’d suggest eating the elephant one bite at a time - define the benefits and drawbacks of a permanently detached head and see if there are any GURPS traits that come close to such effects and work from there. You’ll also want to consider what actions the character can take to reduce/eliminate the drawbacks (and/or other Advantage he/she might have that would have a mitigating effect). Don’t be afraid to invent new Advantages based roughly on the cost of existing ones rather than trying to contort existing ones with a paragraph of Modifiers.

[Gumby Bush]

The Kaldane build you link to assumes the proximity of head and body for driving, which it sounds like you don't want.

Originally Posted by Transhuman Space: Changing Times

buy the spare body as an Ally with the Minion
enhancement, and a Puppet; give it the appropriate
template for the cybershell plus the Minimal
Software template (p. 50), or sometimes a basic NAI
system. The Frequency of Appearance will usually
be Constantly, but this may be reduced for, say, an
unreliable model which is frequently found in pieces
in the repair shop.
An infomorph PC with multiple bodies should
use the cybershell with the highest point cost as its
“main body,” and take each less expensive body as
an Ally/Puppet.

The Minimal Software Template, for our purposes, is essentially IQ-10 [-100]; Dead Broke [-25]; (It adds reprogrammable and a social stigma because it's software, but that doesn't apply here)