Enter...The Stand (JoJo)

[steriaca]

After watching the first JoJo's Bizzar Adventure DVD, I finaly figured out something. That Star Platimum is not a Duplicate, or a Summon at all. He is the combo of Extra Limbs (Full Body, Two Arms, Two LEgs, One Head, One Torso, One Trunk) and a low level Streching.

What do you think?

[NuSoardGraphite]

THE WORLD!

Sorry, had to say it.

well...I think I like Duplication or Summon much better. Otherwise, Jojo himself has to pay for the Timestop power and thats damned expensive :D

[NuSoardGraphite]

Speaking of Stands;

Has anyone here ever played or seen the videogame series called PERSONA?

Its a modern day RPG based around the Supernatural and Myths and legend. Basically the characters gain Tarot cards from negotiating with demons, then combine the cards together to bond with a Persona which is very much like a Stand (a seperate entity connected to the character that can be summoned to help the PC in battle).

Its very cool, because the Personas stats help increase (or in some cases, decrease) the PC's stats. When the PC casts a spell, the Persona manifests itself just like Stands in Jojo's.

Its a very cool universe, well steeped in myth and legend (nearly all mythological Gods, Demigods and major characters and beasts are represented via a Persona of some type...there are literally hundreds found within the game!)

I've been considering running a game based in this universe. Any Ideas on how to handle the Personas?

Remember, the Personas characteristics help enhance (or decrease) the PC's characteristics as well. The the Persona must be summoned to cast a spell (the Persona itself has the spells, not the PC's)
Some individuals are not compatible with some Personas (based on Personality type...all Personas have personalities as well, based on the Tarot Arcana they hail from) and cannot bond with them.

Also, if a Persona has an elemental affinity, the PC takes on that affinity as well. For example, if the Hades Persona is immune to Fire, but vulnerable to cold, the PC takes on that aspect as well.

Only 1 Persona of any given type may be active at any given time, thus if one PC has bonded with Hercules, another character cannot bond with Herc until the current bonded character releases him from their contract.

I could see this being a very cool game, as PC's and their major nemesis have massive battles using their Persona's earth shattering powers.

Also, in the second Persona game, Personas gained the ability to combine their attacks into new, more powerful versions...this goes beyond a mere Coordinated Attack, more like Combo atttacks as outlined in Ninja Hero.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Nolgroth]

So are these Personas like the Voudon loa, which "possess" the PC or are they more like the WarCraft critters which temporarily summon up another critter to fight for them? I guess to follow the card analogy, do they summon up Yu-gio style critters?

If it is the former, then I can see some potential with the concept.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Originally posted by nolgroth
So are these Personas like the Voudon loa, which "possess" the PC or are they more like the WarCraft critters which temporarily summon up another critter to fight for them? I guess to follow the card analogy, do they summon up Yu-gio style critters?

If it is the former, then I can see some potential with the concept.

They are much more like The Loa which "posses" the PC, but instead of a controlling possession, it is more like a partnership. Though within the Persona games, there have been cases of evil Persona which control their hosts (one in particular in the second game called Joker)

As far as "summoning" the Persona goes, once the characters are bonded, it works more like Duplication than true summoning, since the Persona is completely loyal and helpful to the PC. Plus there is no problem "summoning" the Person, they just appear and cast whatever spell the PC needs at the time (or fight or whatever).

However, within the Persona Universe, there are characters called Devil Summoners who do use classic Summoning to summon and control demons and supernatural creatures. They use elaborate computer programs and special laptops to do this (Summoning, OAF, Requires a skill roll: Computer Programming!) so I would conserve the Summon power for use by Devil Summoners and Personas would use Duplication instead...