That's An Odd-Looking Eye You Have... [Archive]

Bloodshot

Jan 18th, '05, 05:58 PM

I'm building a character for a low-powered, Mystery Men (the movie) type game. My character, a sort of Doctor Strange ripoff called Doctor Odd, has a glass eye that he can throw somewhere and then see out of it.

How do you build that? Here are my thoughts so far:

Clairesentiance, sight group
Focus (OIF)
1 Recoverable charge

What I am unclear on is how to do the "chuck the eye somewhere and then you can see things from it's current location". Thoughts?

Agent X

Jan 18th, '05, 06:03 PM

I'm building a character for a low-powered, Mystery Men (the movie) type game. My character, a sort of Doctor Strange ripoff called Doctor Odd, has a glass eye that he can throw somewhere and then see out of it.

How do you build that? Here are my thoughts so far:

Clairesentiance, sight group
Focus (OIF)
1 Recoverable charge

What I am unclear on is how to do the "chuck the eye somewhere and then you can see things from it's current location". Thoughts? How about buy the eye as a follower and set up a mind link? :eg:

AlHazred

Jan 18th, '05, 06:56 PM

Sounds like a limitation. For powers with normal Range, Range Based On STR is a limitation worth (IIRC) -1/4.

Bengal

Jan 18th, '05, 08:02 PM

Duplication. Should be cheap enough. Alternatively, Summon. Mind Link, not clairsentience.

Saxondog

Jan 18th, '05, 08:10 PM

Just for giggles you could add an activation roll. If the roll is failed then it means the eye is pointing down or into a corner or something un-planned that the GM can have some fun with.

Roll the eye down a coridor to see into the next room. You fail the roll and all you see is the cat box in the closet.....or maybe you REALLY blew the activation roll and now the cat is playing with it. Sounds like a Mystery Men movie sort of thing.

ghost-angel

Jan 18th, '05, 10:44 PM

I think adding Normal Range; Based on STR to Clairsentience is probably the best way to go as well.

Unless he can leave the eye behind as well as chuck it, in which case you'll probably need a MP with the OIF on the whole pool.

Bloodshot

Jan 19th, '05, 05:30 AM

I think adding Normal Range; Based on STR to Clairsentience is probably the best way to go as well.

Unless he can leave the eye behind as well as chuck it, in which case you'll probably need a MP with the OIF on the whole pool.

It's one recoverable charge, so I actually have to go and get it. So I think I will add an activation roll to it.

Bengal

Jan 19th, '05, 05:33 AM

If it's a dupe or summon, you can leave it anywhere

AlHazred

Jan 19th, '05, 07:45 AM

If it's Range Based On STR, he can leave it anywhere, too. Just because it says "Based On STR" doesn't mean he can't roll it down an incline or have someone carry it somewhere for him. Those are examples of "assisted STR". Just like, if he was on the Moon, he could throw it a lot farther.

<table border=1><tr><td bgcolor="white"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td align="right"> Cost  </td><td> Power</td><td align="right"> END</td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top"> 15  </td><td> That's An Odd-Looking Eye You Have...: Clairsentience (Sight Group), 1 Recoverable Continuing Charge lasting 1 Day (+3/4) (35 Active Points); OAF (-1), Range Based On STR (-1/4) </td><td valign="top" align="right"> [1 rc]</td></tr></table>Powers Cost: 15</td></tr></table>

The real problem that, as you originally wrote the ability, it works for only a single Phase before you have to collect the eye and throw it again. Makes it a little pricier.

Sean Waters

Jan 19th, '05, 08:12 AM

Just thinking aloud, but...

You could buy indirect for your sight. Normal sight is 32 points so indirect would be (assuming +1/2) 16 points, on which you could have a focus limitation OAF, so 8 points.

Then several penalty skill levels against range so that you can still see as if you were there (unless your vision attenuates anyway with range from the eye...)

The other way I thought of doing it was buy N-Ray with no range modifiers, blocked by anything that blocks normal sight, but able to see anything that you could see from a defined viewpoint.

You may well argue, with some force 'you are just making an alternatvie build for clairsentience', and you would be correct.

SirViss

Jan 19th, '05, 10:06 AM

This is how I would have built it:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td align="right">Cost  </td><td>Power</td><td align="right">END</td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top">13  </td><td>That's An Odd-Looking Eye You Have...: Clairsentience (Sight Group), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (Stops when focus is destroyed; +1/2) (40 Active Points); IAF Fragile (-3/4), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Missing One Eye [½ OCV with Range Attacks, no peripheral vision on one side]; -1/2), Lockout (Must recover Focus to have normal eyesight again; -1/2), Range Based On STR (-1/4) </td><td valign="top" align="right">0</td></tr></table>Powers Cost: 13

I used Reduced End/Uncontrolled because I don't see it as being a "charge". The reason I made it IAF, is that when the power is in use, you can easily get at the focus, thought it pretty small, so should be noticed too often. I made it fragile because... well, it's a glass eye. :)

The Side Effect put in because I'm thinking that when he has it in his socket, he can use it like a normal eye. And I gave it Lockout because you could not get rid of the Phys. Lim. until you recovered the Focus.

What do you guys think?

Silbeg

Jan 19th, '05, 10:33 AM

Just thinking aloud, but...

You could buy indirect for your sight. Normal sight is 32 points so indirect would be (assuming +1/2) 16 points, on which you could have a focus limitation OAF, so 8 points.

Then several penalty skill levels against range so that you can still see as if you were there (unless your vision attenuates anyway with range from the eye...)

The other way I thought of doing it was buy N-Ray with no range modifiers, blocked by anything that blocks normal sight, but able to see anything that you could see from a defined viewpoint.

You may well argue, with some force 'you are just making an alternatvie build for clairsentience', and you would be correct.
I would say that indirect is not a valid option for senses, as Clairsentience is the power that grants that (similar to STR not being allowed to be "Ranged", as that is Telekenisis).

So, I would argue that any construct like that would be invalid. Sorry.

Silbeg

Jan 19th, '05, 10:37 AM

This is how I would have built it:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td align="right">Cost </td><td>Power</td><td align="right">END</td></tr><tr><td align="right" valign="top">13 </td><td>That's An Odd-Looking Eye You Have...: Clairsentience (Sight Group), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (Stops when focus is destroyed; +1/2) (40 Active Points); IAF Fragile (-3/4), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Missing One Eye [½ OCV with Range Attacks, no peripheral vision on one side]; -1/2), Lockout (Must recover Focus to have normal eyesight again; -1/2), Range Based On STR (-1/4) </td><td align="right" valign="top">0</td></tr></tbody></table>Powers Cost: 13

I used Reduced End/Uncontrolled because I don't see it as being a "charge". The reason I made it IAF, is that when the power is in use, you can easily get at the focus, thought it pretty small, so should be noticed too often. I made it fragile because... well, it's a glass eye. :)

The Side Effect put in because I'm thinking that when he has it in his socket, he can use it like a normal eye. And I gave it Lockout because you could not get rid of the Phys. Lim. until you recovered the Focus.

What do you guys think?
I would agree with everything but the lockout, but I do understand why you put it there.

However, I would probably think that the clairsentience will apply until he puts the eye back in... (the focus being destroyed is a given), as the ending effect of the uncontrolled.

How about adding in "No Conscious Control" -1 (no control over the direction the eye has been placed, moved, etc). Not sure this is a good one, but I think there is something to doing it in such a way.

SirViss

Jan 19th, '05, 11:03 AM

I would agree with everything but the lockout, but I do understand why you put it there.

However, I would probably think that the clairsentience will apply until he puts the eye back in... (the focus being destroyed is a given), as the ending effect of the uncontrolled.
...

Well, yes, but I thought that would be what would happen when he turned-off the power (i.e. got the Focus back), so I didn't define that. Maybe I should have. Hmmmm...

tomd1969

Jan 20th, '05, 02:47 AM

The problem with Dupe or Summon, IMV, is that the simpler constructs (e.g. from Clairsentience) are usually better from a mechanical standpoint. This is especially true with Summon: I can't imagine getting into a contest of wills with a glass eyeball (unless it is a *very* strange glass eyeball).

AlHazred's Clairsentience write-up is sound, does the job in a simple enough manner to work, and it avoids write-ups as "Summon Glass Eye, Slavishly Loyal," which (depending on how you write up the glass eye) could get prohibitively expensive very quickly.

YMMV

Bloodshot

Jan 20th, '05, 05:59 AM

Thanks for all the great ideas...I totally forgot about making the recoverable charge continuous. :)