Wearing another character

[Alcibiades]

Alright, I have an idea for a character who is loosely inspired by the various Spder-Man symbiotes (only the symbiote is a shoggoth),

 

Here's my issue.

 

What I am doing is buying the symbiote as a Follower, which has numerous "usable by other" powers that only apply to whoever the symbiote has engulfed.

 

That's not difficult. What I am having a problem with is the engulfing part. Desolidification and Clinging, all with Concentration (0 DCV), I guess. But, when the character is hit by an attack, the follower is also hit, since he's literally wearing the follower. How do I do this? So that some of the damage goes to the STUN and BODY of the follower, and some to the person that is wearing said follower? 

(Also, do people think that this is abusive, since the character is effectively getting his powers at a big discount, as they're actually the follower's powers that he is using? Does the fact that the follower can itself be knocked out or killed or mind controlled counterbalance this?)

Thanks. I appreciate feedback.

[Duke Bushido]

I have put exactly ten seconds of thought in to this (still at work), so forgive me if it's sloppy.  There's a _lot_ of stuff that comes to mind, but the easiest thing I an think of is to add a sort of "side effect" to one or more aspects where the "user" takes any damage after the follower's DEF.

 

Don't take it personally, but I probably wouldn't allow this specific build as a GM because, as you say, extreme discounting.  I would accept a more traditional way of modeling it -- the character pays normally (with whatever framework) for the powers, but they only work when the follower is attached, etc.

 

Gotta run!
 

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

This probably is an ideal place to do the build as a vehicle, since vehicle rules for armor penetration etc all exist.

 

The idea of one PC wearing another PC as armor is incredibly intriguing to me.  I think it would be a lot of fun to play a team like that.

[IndianaJoe3]

17 hours ago, Alcibiades said:

What I am doing is buying the symbiote as a Follower, which has numerous "usable by other" powers that only apply to whoever the symbiote has engulfed.

 

That's not difficult. What I am having a problem with is the engulfing part. Desolidification and Clinging, all with Concentration (0 DCV), I guess. But, when the character is hit by an attack, the follower is also hit, since he's literally wearing the follower. How do I do this? So that some of the damage goes to the STUN and BODY of the follower, and some to the person that is wearing said follower? 

(Also, do people think that this is abusive, since the character is effectively getting his powers at a big discount, as they're actually the follower's powers that he is using? Does the fact that the follower can itself be knocked out or killed or mind controlled counterbalance this?)

 

If you decide to go this route, the cleanest way of building it would be to give the symbiote a Physical Complication: Takes the same damage as the host (Very Frequently, Slightly) - 20 pts.

 

However, I would consider this to be an abusive build. The character would, effectively, be based on 640 points (assuming constant access to the symbiote). Even if they take the same amount of damage, they'll be able to mitigate most of it.

[Tjack]

   I’m not saying you can’t do it, but if I were the GM, I’d ask “So how is this limiting you?”   If you didn’t have an good answer...

  

[HeroGM]

Armor/Resistant Protection - Side Effect (character takes XX damage as armor; -1/2)

Oh,  may want to look at APG1 for some ideas.

[mallet]

As a Gm, I also wouldn't allow this build, for all the reasons listed by others. It would be like building Tony Stark, but buying the Iron Man suit as an Follower (since Jarvis the AI is technically running the suit and just "giving" all the powers to Tony). 

 

Rather I would suggest building it like Iron Man's armor, just a creepy, organic, sanity destroying version of it, and then buying the Shoggoths's "Mind" as a Follower, with its own senses, intelligence, skills, knowledges, maybe even a couple of its own attacks the player doesn't control (tentacle shoots out), etc... And then work out a build that would allow the Follower to take over the "suit" if the PC is knocked unconscious. 

[Greywind]

Sounds like a Jericho problem.

[dmjalund]

2 hours ago, Greywind said:

Sounds like a Jericho problem.

the solution is trumpets?

[Greywind]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(DC_Comics)

[dmjalund]

23 minutes ago, Greywind said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(DC_Comics)

[Kevinvt]

Nuff Said,

[Kevinvt]

There is a power in Champions Powers called "Bodyjacking", which might solve the "Jericho Problem", but it involves changes to the Desolid power, like making it a Projection and Merging variant.  Champions Complete offers an example of Astral Projection which involves Duplicating one's self as an invisible and desolid version.