Pain resistance?

[lunaticlord]

I'm trying to build a drug that will numb someone's pain to allow them to fight on unhindered, but I'm having trouble what that effect might be on the game. As far as I know, there's no power to model it with that makes you immune to stun (other than automaton), and there's not much in the way of negative effects from pain other than the long term injury rules. Any suggestions on how to fit this in?

I was leaning toward a 25% damage reduction from shrugging off injuries, but was hoping for something better. Thanks.

[Vulcan]

DR seems to be the official way, given that the 4E character "Deadman's Hand" (In Dark Champions) had 50% and a total inability to feel pain.

Don't forget the Resistance talent as well. If you don't feel pain, it's hard for someone to torture you effectively....

[Sean Waters]

...............

Don't forget the Resistance talent as well. If you don't feel pain, it's hard for someone to torture you effectively....

Well, it is hard for someone to torture you by threatening you with pain. That just means they have to get more creative.

What?

[Kdansky]

There is a Resistance Talent somewhere. Basically +1 to EGO roll only to resist interrogation for 1 point.

The other part: I have used plain PD/ED to great effect I like the idea to make it ablative, so the first couple hits don't impress you much, but after that, it gets harder and harder to ignore them.

[DocSamson]

We use STUN only Damage Reduction to simulate ignoring pain. And if you are using the Wounding Rules, the Resistance talent also helps you ignore the pain of wounds.

[Flames]

Can't you just have the drug add a lot of CON and STUN to the character temporarily?

[lunaticlord]

We use STUN only Damage Reduction to simulate ignoring pain. And if you are using the Wounding Rules, the Resistance talent also helps you ignore the pain of wounds.

That works... I can make it resistant, then remove the BODY component to it so that it works on killing attacks, but the character can still die from wounds even if he's not feeling them. Thanks much!

[McCoy]

Can't you just have the drug add a lot of CON and STUN to the character temporarily?

Or extra PD & ED, vs STUN only.

[Ockham's Spoon]

How you build it depends on the setting and whether you want pain resistance or pain immunity. For a Champions setting where lots of STN damage is done, Damage Reduction will probably be more useful, although it depends on the character build. For a Heroic setting, extra PD/ED only vs STN might be more reasonable cost-wise. I have used the latter for lots of characters that are resistant to pain, esp. for mind-over-body effects of mentalists and well-disciplined martial arts guys that should not a tough as a brick-type character but that I don't want going down on the first hit.

[CTaylor]

An automaton that takes no stun and cannot be stunned would make you just numb and immune to pain, if the GM will allow it.

[Kdansky]

In most settings, PD+ED work a lot better than DR. Because DR is basically additional Stun for a high price. You end up with crazy prices compared to what you get in a non-super-setting.

[Sean Waters]

How you build it depends on the setting and whether you want pain resistance or pain immunity. For a Champions setting where lots of STN damage is done, Damage Reduction will probably be more useful, although it depends on the character build. For a Heroic setting, extra PD/ED only vs STN might be more reasonable cost-wise. I have used the latter for lots of characters that are resistant to pain, esp. for mind-over-body effects of mentalists and well-disciplined martial arts guys that should not a tough as a brick-type character but that I don't want going down on the first hit.

The difficulty is that Hero has so many ways fo doing damage, even in heroic campaigns. NND, AVLD, armour piercing, killing attacks, for goodness sakes, not all of which work against normal PD/ED.

Then, of course, you have to define what you mean by pain resistance. Do you mean you don't feel the pain (or you can ignore it, or whatever) or you DO feel the pain but don't react to it normally (given that, in Hero, PCs do not seem to be expected to have to follow the rules for interaction skills, including, presumably, interrogation, I always wondered why we bothered with the pain resistance talent) to it.

If you want to be able to ignore all the negative effects of pain, then you need a build that makes you take less stun, and PD/ED does not necessarily fit the bill, because it does not cover all the bases.

In fact, in a heroic campaign, the only real candidate to my mind is increased CON because it prevents you being stunned and it increases your STUN value.

if you have points to burn then buying physical, energy AND mental damage reduction makes sense and, if you have that many points, you are probably in a high enough point game to justify it.

Also, Ockham's Spoon, can I just make a confession? I KNOW, having looked carefully, that your avatar is a flaring match, but, well, let's just say it is probably best if I try to avoid psychologists and Rorschach blot tests, or, possibly, I could cut down on all the surfing for porn. I think it is beginning to affect me...