Ragdoll

[Meadyaon]

Would the following be to much for a character? He is stuck in this form. The character's other powers is great agility.

He stands a full six feet in height. He is muscular, sleek muscles rippling under skin that is unnaturally smooth and featureless. The left side of his face is black in color while right side of his face is chalk white in color. His hairline starts at the top of his head. Black hair gently cascades down his back down to his elbows. His beady eyes are red in color. A row of long jagged fang-like teeth lines his large mouth. His lips which are ruby red in color appear to be in a perpetual grin. He wears a red ruff. A sharp iron colored claw comes out of each hand’s fingers and thumb. In his hands he holds a wicked looking scythe as though it were an extension of himself. Ten wicked looking chains are wrapped around his chest and torso.

The super being can transform into a human-shaped bundle of cloth, rags, straw, cotton stuffing, string, and similar materials, as if he were a living scarecrow. His real face is obscured, appearing either like a featureless sack or with sewn on features like a Raggedy Ann or Andy doll (mouth and eyes move, however, as if they were real). The appearance may be fairly ordinary, cutesy, or scary

Impervious to sound, shadow and cold-based attacks, gasses, poison, drugs and disease.

Projectiles like bullets and arrows do no damage at all, and go right through the rag character.

Clubs and blunt attacks, punches and kicks, as well as stabbing attacks and falls from great heights, only do 10% their normal damage.

Knives, swords, and other "cutting" weapons do full damage. Lasers, light, electricity and other energy-based attacks do normal damage to the strange character.

Wind and water-based attacks do half damage.

Explosions have one of two possible outcomes on the character's body (roll percentile dice). 01-40% Blows the character 2D6 yards/meters away (no damage), or 41-00% blasts the character's body over a large area. The character takes half of the damage from the force of the blast, but requires 3D6 melee rounds to reform his body, and he must do that before he can turn back into a human.

Heat, fire and plasma inflict triple damage!

The character does not need to breathe at all and can function in a vacuum indefinitely; floats on water but gets waterlogged and will sink after 1D4+2 hours.

[Christopher]

The immunities could best be done with Desolidification.

But than everything that can affect the world needs "Affects Physical World" Advantage.

[Ice9]

You're right on the borderline between Desolidification and just having lots of defenses here.
Which way you'd want to go depends on what the character can do in Ragdoll form. If it's just "get blasted around while mocking your foes", then Desolidification is the way to go (with a limitation for having more than the usual number of weaknesses). If you can fight at full strength, then just having very high defenses in certain areas may work better. In either case, you'll need Life Support (self-contained breathing). Also, depending on how different the Ragdoll form is, it could potentially be a Multiform.

Most of the ragdoll abilities just count as defenses, but a couple of them are Complications:
Vulnerability (fire/plasma)
Physical Complication (takes extra knockback, frequent, minor)
Physical Complication (sinks after a few hours in water, rare, major)

[Clonus]

Would the following be to much for a character?

Wrong game system. You seem to be thinking in D20 terms. And I don't see any reason why an intense enough sound based attack couldn't reduce such a character to shreds of scattered cloth.

[Hugh Neilson]

Wrong game system. You seem to be thinking in D20 terms. And I don't see any reason why an intense enough sound based attack couldn't reduce such a character to shreds of scattered cloth.

Every time I see "Would this be too much", my first inclination is to post "This would be too much and would never be allowed in my gritty street cop Hero Game" or something similar.

To say it once again, what is "not enough", "just right" or "too much" cannot be assessed outside the context of an actual game. This character could be vastly overpowered in some games, just right in others and barely qualified as comic relief sidekick in a third set of games.

As this is on the Champions board, I assume we're talking Superheroes. I agree with Ice9 that this can be modelled with either desolid or defenses. The former would be limited, as the character is easier to affect than normal, but would also require Affects Solid World on any other abilities which can be used at the same time. The latter could include things like Damage Reduction (using APG 100% negation would be required to get full immunities).

I have never found Desolid overpowered in a typical Supers game, though Affects Solid World would cause me to look very closely. The character can be affected by some reasonable attack types, so I suspect it would not be unbalanced. Defense levels would have to be assessed against campaign standards, with consideration for what the character can accomplish while in this highly defended form.

[Meadyaon]

I may not get to play him as a pc becuase of the following. Is there anything I can so that he would be playable. I also was wanting him to run a gang that dresses like clowns.

Insanities: He derives pleasure through inflicting pain and suffering on others. He also derives pleasure from torturing and killing people. He reacts with anger and violence toward the people making fun of him. The more people make fun of the way he looks more angry and violent he will be towards them.

History: He was born on September 11, 1988 in Las Vegas, Nevada. From an early age he found out he had great agility.

On his fifth birthday his father left him and his mother to be with his pregnant girlfriend. His father had been dating his girlfriend for three and-a-half months without being caught. Raised by his domineering mother.

[Hugh Neilson]

I may not get to play him as a pc becuase of the following. Is there anything I can so that he would be playable.

Design his personailty so that he fits the tone of the campaign in which he will be played. His current persona sounds a lot like a Secret Six (DC) character of the same name, so he would fit just fine in such a campaign. In a four colour Supers game, he will not fit. You would need to have a character more like Ragman (also DC) who has a more heroic personality and motivation.

I also was wanting him to run a gang that dresses like clowns.

Followers are certainly possible, but many GM's dislike having PC's with multiple characters cluttering the place up. If you envision these as combatants who are always with the character, they would be designed very differently than if you envision them having mainly noncombat roles. They could be merely contacts, followers with noncombat builds, SFX for a bonus with investigative skills (more people looking speeds the process) or even SFX for Money (they steal things and turn part of the take over to me). If they never have any real game effect, then they're just background. If they get in trouble and complicate the character's life more than they help him, they're dependent NPC's, so a complication.

What do you envision them doing in game?

Insanities: He derives pleasure through inflicting pain and suffering on others. He also derives pleasure from torturing and killing people. He reacts with anger and violence toward the people making fun of him. The more people make fun of the way he looks more angry and violent he will be towards them.

All I see when I read that is "villain", so he won't be a viable PC in most games. The rest is background fluff.

Powers and abilities don't make a hero. Attitude and morals make a hero. Change the personality and the most vile villain becomes the most stalwart of heroes.

[Meadyaon]

I know that there are characters in Dc Comics known as Ragdoll. The reason he has the name Ragdoll is I was basing his name on his transforming powers which turns him into a ragdoll. I might see him if i change more like the anti-hero like the punisher. I know that I want to know some stage magic which he loves. He also likes clowns alot I know that he has thing from scythes, and bladed weapons. No matter what I change he will always be stuck in his ragdoll form unable to change back into a human.

[lapsedgamer]

You may look at a layered approach using Damage Reduction and Negation. This might get pricey, but Desolid with attacks that affect the physical world are pricey too. I think a Damage Reduction/Negation combo would be simpler to build.

[steriaca]

Hear is what I would do with the charater concept. I would ask myself the folowing questions:

1) How many points has the GM giving me to play with? I have to make this charater based on the GM's guidelines, so it is helpful knowing how many points I have to play with before I need to buy limitations (old lingo for compucations, pre-6th ed).

2) Would my charater fit in with the other players? A bloodthristy vigalantie dosen't fit in with a shiny four-colored world as a 'hero'. A magical charater would not fit into a mutants campain. (It can be done...see Magick of the New Mutants...but that is the exception to the rule, AND she started as a mutant first and gained magical powers on top of that).

3) Are you willing to tone down your charater ideal to fit in? Are you willing to tone down your charater ideal, so you can build with experence points over time the abilities you want?

4) Have you included skills for your charater? Always remember that not eveything will be combat...do you have any skills which are not about combat? Are you willing to buy combat related skills later as your charater grows?

It is always best to start small, then grow, then to start fully grown and have no place to go. A stagnent charater loses intrest real fast.

[matthewcelis]

It looks like you've created a supervillain crime lord to me, not a playable hero.

Maybe you should give this character to your GM and have him create an adventure where your heroic characters can face off against the Ragdoll and his clown gang.

[Meadyaon]

I will do what is need to make him playable. I know will have Profession (Stage Magican). I know he is a skilled knife thrower and poker player. What about him being a contortionist? How can i show in his history he is very agile? I left out the follwing from the thing he can do as a a ragdoll.

The character can pull apart his body parts, such as his hand, hand and arm, foot, etc. and they will continue to move and do things he desires.

The character can create gaps and pockets within the stuffing that fills his body. The size of these pockets is limited to about twelve inches (0.3 m) cubed in total available volume, but the dimensions can be altered to fit the whim of the character. This would allow the character to hide away a small object, like a gun, grenade, knife, computer disk, book, etc. From the outside, the pocket looks no different from the rest of his body, with no obvious openings or access. Only the character himself can access the inside of the pocket, without cutting him open.

[matthewcelis]

It sounds like you want a character who can do way too many things. Maybe you should start by focusing on a few things and then upgrade when you get experience points and your character learns new facets of his power/body.

[Meadyaon]

How would I do him as a Stage Magician?

[steriaca]

Skills for a stage magition:
1) Slight of Hand.
2) Profesinal Skill: Stage Magic.
3) Knolage Skill: Stage Magic.
4) Knolage Skill: The Preforming World.
5) A high Presence stat.
6) Optinal tallent: Double Jointed.