Love/Lust Potions

[Michael Hopcroft]

I have a dirty little secret: I'm a big fan of Phil Foglio, even in his more pervy moments. I recalled reading his fantasy erotic comic XXXenophile and seeing one particularly gameable but tricky idea (I will leave out the more explicit details for obvious reasons :sneaky: ).

Basically it involved a potion that had two effects, which happened in succession. First off, the person it is administered to becomes utterly crazed with lust until they have intercourse or the equvalent with the person who adminsited the potion. After that, they become completely bonded to them. A nasty potion to have administered on you by an enemy, and even worse to have accidentally adminsietred on you by your cat (it took the intervention of the Horned God himself to solve the problem in the comic).

Now msot GMs probably would not allow this potion to be adminstered on a PC in their game because most players value their free will too highly to put up with it. But it could have all sorts of boomerang effects when adminsitered on an NPC by a PC, especially if it happens by accident or misunderstanding, and could be extremely funny in the right kind of campaign. Imagine being literally dragged into bed by a person of the opposite sex who you accidentally gave this potion to, then discovering afterwards you have an adoring new friend whom you absolutely cannot shake by any means.

The mechanics of the potion would be interesting, as would love potions and love spells in general. I would iamgine it would be some sort of Transform to endow a Psych Lim "Utterly In love With X". (The lust effect might be best left up the imagination and is not a part of all love potions.) The effect might be permanent or temporary, but if it's temproary expect some nasty consequences when it expires or is Dispelled!

And Phil Foglio? When he's not drawing Girl Genius with Kaja he's a board member of the local PTA. I won't tell on him if you won't. :winkgrin:

[tkdguy]

Transform would work, as would Mind Control, since the potion effectively removes the imbiber's free will. I'm not sure if a Drain on the drinker's EGO and PRE would work.

[AlHazred]

I would say a Major Transform like you describe would be the way to go.

Also used in the episode in question are Summoning, Clairsentience (Sight and Hearing Groups) with Retrocognition, and a different Major Transform. I was wholly expecting him to end it with a different sort of ending - remember the joke with the woman who finds the genie bottle?

[Chris Goodwin]

I don't know that joke, but I do remember the one about the deaf genie. "Do you think I wished for a twelve inch pianist?"

Along similar lines, how would you represent a contraception spell and/or sterility?

[Michael Hopcroft]

Along similar lines, how would you represent a contraception spell and/or sterility?

That drepends on how you model preganancy, which is a subject very few RPGs have even touched with a ten-foot pole.

Sine sterility has very little game effect (except for a social stigma in some soceties), I'm not even sure it's worth points as a Disad. And very few players would put up with their PCs becoming pregnant unles the player herself decided she wanted her character to hjave a baby.

Pregnancy would mean that the character would game a Phycial Limitation that simulated the effects of pregancy (morning sickness, increased bulk, etc>0 followed afterwards by the player obtaining a completely helpless DNPC (the baby). Again, few players would put up with it unless they were to volunteer for that kind of treatment.

[Deejmeister]

Along similar lines, how would you represent a contraception spell and/or sterility?

Well, pregnancy could be construed as a kind of Transform so you could defend against it with Power DEF, perhaps with a limitation "only vs. pregnancy attacks". :)

The easiest way is with a variant Life Support, but that's not stricktly cannon.

You can also write up a "magic condom" spell: 1 PD Force Field, 0 END, Persistant, IPE, + LS: Diseases (only vs bodily fluid transfer).

[megaplayboy]

Transform is the most straightforward way to go, but a cumulative single command mind control based on con would also likely work--I'd suggest two psych lims--"loves X unconditionally" and "lusts after X constantly", the first at a Total commitment level, and the second at Strong level--making an Ego roll to resist a suggestion which appeals to both psych lims would be nearly impossible(probably a net -8 to a single ego roll). A minor physical limitation or distinctive features(appears lust crazed or lovestruck) might be appropriate as well.
Or the user could take potion of seduction which massively boosted their seductiveness, either generally, or against a single target(Aid to PRE, COM, plus a big bonus to Seduction, Persuasion, and Conversation).

I think at a high enough level(i.e., if your skill roll is higher than 18), that PRE skills do and should operate similar to mind control, albeit with the need to practice the skill for much longer(minutes or hours vs. phases or turns), a greater chance of failure, and a somewhat narrower range of "commands"(depends on what skill is used). After all, a skill roll that high should cost more than a few points, if bought from its base level(or if one has high PRE, consider the cost of buying that PRE stat that high)--one should get what one pays for.

[AlHazred]

Transform is the most straightforward way to go, but a cumulative single command mind control based on con would also likely work--I'd suggest two psych lims--"loves X unconditionally" and "lusts after X constantly", the first at a Total commitment level, and the second at Strong level--making an Ego roll to resist a suggestion which appeals to both psych lims would be nearly impossible(probably a net -8 to a single ego roll).
If you go the cumulative route, you should definitely also put Partial Transformation advantage on it. In any case, Mind Control would do well for a short term effect that eventually wore off; for imparting permanent Psych Lims, Transform is the (highly) recommended way to go.

[Foxx!]

Michael Hopcroft!

How about making SFX connection between the user and the potion? The user has to drink the first half of the potion, or the user has to put a drop of their blood in the potion.

One of my friends made a matching ring and collar. The user wears the ring and puts the collar on a target. Any command from the user is a Mind Control attack on the target. I think this is more fun that unconditional submission because the target still has a chance to resist, and you can try to find a way to remove the collar. The item is not for love, but it can be used that way.

Cheers!

[arcady]

Sterility is a social disad most likely. It can be quite a severe thing in many primative societies and get you soundly outcast - especially for women, who often get their social status out of motherhood.

I would model a love potion as a triggered Mind Control. It seems a blatently straightforward application of the Mind Control power - putting a 'sleeper command' on a person that leaves the rest of their mind intact.

In a Champions combat a long time ago, I had my character controlled into 'feeling devoted to the master villain and thus needing to protect him.' I roleplayed this out by having a sudden epiphany and "realizing" that the man was my old high school boyfriend who'd "gone missing" with me never getting over him. Doing my best anime-character, I went all googly eyed and began making big speaches and pornouncements with pet names ending in 'poo' as I started crawling all over him and getting in the way of the battle...

Never give a player in a silly mood free license unless you intend comedy.

[Blue Jogger]

You could just write it up as:

Seduction 21-, Lim: Only vs the person who drank the other half of the potion (-2), Lim: Effect is to cause lust and then completely loyality (-0), OAF: Magic Potion (-1))
+16 COM, Lim: (Same as Above) -3
(33 Active Points, 8 Real Points)

NPCs are usually easily manipulated with Persuasion, Seduction, Conversation, in ways that most PCs are not. The cost is, of course, cheaper than raw Transform or Mind Control, because...well... there are built in side effects that Mind Control and Transform just don't have to deal with (it's almost a Side Effect wanting to happen!) It also makes the effect easier to Dispel which is an important consideration.

Powerful NPCs should get a "breakout roll" to realize that the attraction isn't real and seek a counter potion (or equivalent) or perhaps they do something seemingly irrational (having the target arrested so they can have privacy in a jail cell).

Modifiers for the Seduction Roll (based on Victim's beliefs)
-10...................Impossible
-8......................Completely Improper
-5......................Normally possible if they had time to know each other
-3......................Already close friends, but never took it to the next level

[Michael Hopcroft]

Powerful NPCs should get a "breakout roll" to realize that the attraction isn't real and seek a counter potion (or equivalent) or perhaps they do something seemingly irrational (having the target arrested so they can have privacy in a jail cell).

Modifiers for the Seduction Roll (based on Victim's beliefs)
-10...................Impossible
-8......................Completely Improper
-5......................Normally possible if they had time to know each other
-3......................Already close friends, but never took it to the next level
I just got this image of a Warrior Nun type of character being given this potion by an adevrsary. If there are modifiers to the Seduction rol this COULD be used on PCs if you really want it to be, with everything that implies.

Of course, if it does get used on a PC in my game, i would take the player aside, explain a little bit about what's going on (not neccesarily everything) and ask them a.) how far they were comfortable with their character taking things and b.) ewhat sort of long-term effects of the action they would consider acceptable to keep the game going. If the PC has a vow of celibacy (Social Disad) and is determined to live by it, then rather than forcing the player to play against type I would create circumstances that, even if the character is under the effects of the potion, the unvierdse itself is working towards keeping their vows intact.

In a different system, one of the PCs in a game I was in tried to seduce my PC using illusion magic. Since I assumed my PC had taken a vow of celibacy (he was a powerful priest), and i knew the other player was doing this just to wresltle with my head, I played out his efforts to resist the temptation ine xcyur\ciating detail. Not only did it work, but I roleplayed the situation so well i got extra experience.