Highlander HERO

[Lord Liaden]

That particular prize need not be the only objective of the PCs. Both the films and the television series featured friendships between immortals, and the pursuit of other goals.

And the key word here is "eventually." For immortals that can be a long, long time from now.

[tkdguy]

Friendships among immortals do occur, so they can adventure together. It is possible to have solo games. I ran a different adventure for each person in the group once; mind you, running 3-4 adventures simultaneously can be draining.

Now I'm goiing to have nightmares about Jar Jar Binks being an immortal.

[Runehammer]

"Meesa thinkin' theresa gonna be only one?" Decapitate and run, I don't want ANY of that quickening...

Speaking of which...a playtest has been occurring during my vacation of last week and continues now, this is an update. There are three immortals total of various ages and backgrounds, two guys (550 years old and 200 years old) and one girl (115 years old). Yes, I made them all write up character histories based on 3 to 5 life events per 100 years, those writeups have recently finished as have all my new plot hooks . We all do medieval re-enactment (SCA) so history is easy, twisting the event is hard.

I am a perpetual tweaker, not because I think you should get more bang for your buck so you can min-max but so that the particular elements of a power can properly reflect how they work in 'real' space. This is what we have agreed upon so far:

Tweaked: Immortal Regeneration: Healing BODY 1d6, Resurrection, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (60 Active Points); Always On (-1/2), Self Only (-1/2), Limited Power Power Cannot Be Pushed (-1/4) 27 points
Reasoning: The immortal can't not regenerate, he can't opt to not heal that wound it happens automatically, we figured that if he really really wants to not heal that hit to make it look like he's normal he'd have to spend a big chunk of END, at least 3x or better. Savings of 13 points.

Tweaked: The Quickening: Aid 1d6, all [special effect] powers simultaneously (+2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Century; +3 1/4) (62 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Ubiquitous Circumstances (-2), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), Self Only (-1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect only affects the environment near the character; -1/2) 11 points

(Quickening Side Effect Blast: Energy Blast 4d6 (vs. ED), Explosion (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Armor Piercing (+1/2) (60 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), Gradual Effect (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12); -1/4))

Reasoning: Added the side effect to reflect the actual damage done to the surroundings. Savings of 2 points.

Additional Template adds:
Anonimity 3 points
Reasoning: these guys slide from place to place with people not really remembering them
False Identity 1 point
Reasoning: always handy to have this as a floating point perk, renews every so often

I also added the following to customize characters, 5 additional types of Quickening.
The Quickening (Enhanced): Aid 1 1/2d6, all [special effect] powers simultaneously (+2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Century; +3 1/4) (94 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Ubiquitous Circumstances (-2), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), Self Only (-1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect only affects the environment near the character; -1/2) 17 points

Reasoning: Available to older immortals who know how to get a little more out of the kill. 6 extra points.

The Quickening (Quiet): Aid 1d6, all [special effect] powers simultaneously (+2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Century; +3 1/4) (62 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Ubiquitous Circumstances (-2), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), Self Only (-1/2) No Side Effect 12 points

Reasoning: no side effect, for the more pious immortals that just have the white light and holy choir, no damge, poof, done... 1 extra point

The Quickening (Painful): Aid 1d6, all [special effect] powers simultaneously (+2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Century; +3 1/4) (62 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Ubiquitous Circumstances (-2), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect only affects the environment near the character; -1 1/2), Self Only (-1/2) 9 points
(Quickening Side Effect Blast (Painful): Energy Blast 8d6 (vs. ED), Explosion (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Armor Piercing (+1/2) (120 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), No Knockback (-1/4), Gradual Effect (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12); -1/4))

Reasoning:more damaging side effect to fit a more violent personality in the immortal. 2 less points

The Quickening (Peaceful): Aid 1 1/2d6, all [special effect] powers simultaneously (+2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Century; +3 1/4) (94 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Ubiquitous Circumstances (-2), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), Self Only (-1/2) No Side Effect 19 points

Reasoning: very old, very pious immortals only, rarest of quickenings. 8 extra points

The Quickening (Weakened): Aid 0 1/2d6, all [special effect] powers simultaneously (+2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Century; +3 1/4) (31 Active Points); Conditional Power Power does not work in Ubiquitous Circumstances (-2), Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (-1), Self Only (-1/2) 5 points

Reasoning: This was created for a cowardly and relatively weak immortal, more a brainiac than a fighter, this also works well for new immortals who are untrained, 6 less points.

Weapons became a strong point of contention, specifically the personalizing, I had to limit the potential addons to a custom compound power.

There were all Independent, OAF(Durable/Difficult to obtain new Focus), cannot be Pushed, Real Weapon based around a 2d6-1 HKA (STR Min 12)
optional ads were required for one, one and a half or two handed and STR min to wield, most of them opted for one and a half handed.
Reach was possible (1" Stretching) for 1 point(great weapons, polearms, big honkin' axes), Negative Combat skills (-1 to opponent's ocv or dcv) for 1 point (tangler type weapons or swords with big quillions), +1 w/ HTH combat skills for 1 point (basic fine balance), Penalty skill levels (+2 to hit locations w/ all attacks) for 1 point (more to reflect skill than actual weapon seeking capabilities), and +5 to either Fast Draw or Concealment for 1 point (these guys pull these things out of their shirt pockets or cleavage with ease).

So far the most dangerous combinations are with martial arts maneuvers with the weapon element:
Fast Strike, Weapon Block, Counterstrike, Weapon Flash, Haymaker for Decapitation (called shot to head @ -8). The Martial Flash helps with the last maneuver immensely as several test combats proved. Also helps when a target gets CON stunned. Lightning Reflexes is a big seller too, arguements were posed for adding them to the weapon creation but I nixed that.

All the extra points saved earlier were put into either martial arts or more skills.
Also if you add Independent to the Methuselah Crystal and bump the Immunity to include chemical agents (makes it sweet for even an immortal to own it) the cost drops to 22.
Methuselah Crystal :Elemental Control, 34-point powers, (17 Active Points); all slots Independent (-2), IAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Arrangement (-1/4) 3 points
-+4 with All Combat (32 Active Points); Independent (-2), IAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Arrangement (-1/4) 3 points
-Life Support (Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Longevity: Immortal) (25 Active Points); Independent (-2), IAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Arrangement (-1/4) 3 points
-Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50% (30 Active Points); Independent (-2), IAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Arrangement (-1/4) 3 points
-Regeneration: Healing BODY 2d6, Resurrection, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (80 Active Points); Independent (-2), IAF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 3/4), Arrangement (-1/4), Always On (-1/2), Self Only (-1/2), Limited Power Power Cannot Be Pushed (-1/4) 10 points

My two coppers, for what it's worth...(wow, am I wordy, my longest post so far I think)

[tkdguy]

Great stuff there, Runehammer! Keep up the good work.