Need Assistance Creating Character Complications...

[JCR]

Greetings!

No idea where the appropriate thread would be for this, thus I posted it here in this section. Dunno if there's a specific section for "character creation" in general or its a s genre specific post in forums. Personally I just create characters using the Hero System and never really think of a genre when creating them (its to me the beauty of the system).

To the point at hand:

Looking for some assistance creating some complications for a character. I would like to come up w/ some interesting complications for my new version a character that uses a PA (Power Armor) Focus. The PA is an alien prototype of biological-mechanical-magical nature. Imagine a bio-mechanical PA that uses a magic artifact as its power source.

EXAMPLES:

-becomes linked w/ the armor in such a way that he cannot survive too long w/o wearing it or something along those lines, but not measured in phases or turns or minutes per se.

-Needs to consume twice the amount of food as the armor's biological side consumes nutrients from his contact to it (non-visual effects).

Any and all ideas are appreciated!

[assault]

Since you mention Complications, rather than Disadvantages, I assume you are using Sixth Edition.

 

Genre and setting matter when choosing Complications. This is how you integrate the character into the setting.

 

 

How many points worth do you need?

Generally speaking, some Complications involving other people are a good idea. Hunteds, DNPCs, Rivalries...

Psych Limitations help establish who your character is. What is their motivation? What do they want to do?

Just these alone can fill up a typical character's sheet. Use the fancy stuff to fill up any points they don't cover. Or cut back on them if you have lots of fancy stuff in mind.

[Lord Liaden]

I'm not sure if this will be of any direct help to the OP, but you might find something else of interest, and the topic title will probably prompt general curiosity.

 

Years ago, Jack "Worldmaker" Butler maintained an online database resource for Hero gamers of Fourth and Fifth Edition, "The Master List of Limitations," with a huge number of original "Limitations," which as assault mentions above, are under 6E called "Complications," contributed to by many Herophiles. Mechanically and point-cost-wise those Limitations are practically identical to Complications. They're broken down into lists of Physical, Psychological, Social, and Distinctive Features.

 

IIRC Worldmaker sadly passed away, and his original Master List website passed on as well. Other attempts to host it online also appear to have disappeared. But I saved the last version of the list in fully searchable HTML format, and this seems like a good place to attach it again. (I think I'll upload it to the free file downloads on this website, too.)

The Master List Of Limitations - A Resource For Hero System .htm

[tkdguy]

Sad to hear about Worldmaker's passing. 

[HeroGM]

Complications in 6th, Disadvantages before that.

[Hugh Neilson]

16 hours ago, JCR said:

EXAMPLES:

-becomes linked w/ the armor in such a way that he cannot survive too long w/o wearing it or something along those lines, but not measured in phases or turns or minutes per se.

-Needs to consume twice the amount of food as the armor's biological side consumes nutrients from his contact to it (non-visual effects).

Any and all ideas are appreciated!

 

Complications are issues that arise in-game to, well, complicate matters.  So the definition really depends on how often you want issues to arise due to the complication, and how severe you wish them to be in play.  In my view, it helps to view these as instructing the GM on the type of challenges you wish your character to face. the concept is not "I can have a pile of points and just mitigate the drawbacks so they never have any in-game impact."  It's more "if the effects are easily mitigated, then it's not worth many, or even any, points."

 

Death if separated from the armor is about as severe as it can get - so how often do you want that to come up in play? Virtually never?  Then it's really just backstory, not a complication at all. Pretty much every game, due to reasons he will need to do without the armor?  OK, that's a severe complication - assuming the timeframe is short enough to be meaningful in play.  if the expectation is that he can access the armor every day, and it would take a month of denied access before any ill effects would be felt, getting back to "not even common enough to be a complication".

 

How significant an issue will the increased need for food be?  If the game is one where necessities like food are hard to come by, and just finding enough to survive will be a challenge, then this makes it even more challenging.  Probably a serious complication.  If lack of food is rarely or never an issue, and the characters are assumed to eat and drink behind the scenes, it's just flavour, and not a complication at all.

 

 

[Asperion]

For the second complication,  I would go for a simple solution. 

 

Physical  - Requires twice the food of a normal human- Frequently,  Major 

 

This could be adjusted to suit the need of the character and how much the armor actually consumes. 

[Hugh Neilson]

3 hours ago, Asperion said:

For the second complication,  I would go for a simple solution. 

 

Physical  - Requires twice the food of a normal human- Frequently,  Major 

 

This could be adjusted to suit the need of the character and how much the armor actually consumes. 

 

"Frequently" to me would require that the character is often unable to easily or conveniently access that extra food, not simply that his meals are larger.  In a Fantasy game, consuming extra cash to pay double for all food compared to other characters might be enough, if the extra funds are not trivial in-game.  In a Supers game where characters have enough cash to get by and easy access to food, not so much.

[HeroGM]

I'd make it Side Effects of the Armor depending on if this is a found/cursed item or what.

[JCR]

On 5/28/2022 at 10:22 PM, Lord Liaden said:

I'm not sure if this will be of any direct help to the OP, but you might find something else of interest, and the topic title will probably prompt general curiosity.

 

Years ago, Jack "Worldmaker" Butler maintained an online database resource for Hero gamers of Fourth and Fifth Edition, "The Master List of Limitations," with a huge number of original "Limitations," which as assault mentions above, are under 6E called "Complications," contributed to by many Herophiles. Mechanically and point-cost-wise those Limitations are practically identical to Complications. They're broken down into lists of Physical, Psychological, Social, and Distinctive Features.

 

IIRC Worldmaker sadly passed away, and his original Master List website passed on as well. Other attempts to host it online also appear to have disappeared. But I saved the last version of the list in fully searchable HTML format, and this seems like a good place to attach it again. (I think I'll upload it to the free file downloads on this website, too.)

The Master List Of Limitations - A Resource For Hero System .htm 1.22 MB · 4 downloads

Uber useful!!! Thanks again! Useful for current, past, and future builds!!!

Thanks everyone for the assistance and information!

[pinecone]

On 5/28/2022 at 6:05 PM, JCR said:

Greetings!

No idea where the appropriate thread would be for this, thus I posted it here in this section. Dunno if there's a specific section for "character creation" in general or its a s genre specific post in forums. Personally I just create characters using the Hero System and never really think of a genre when creating them (its to me the beauty of the system).

To the point at hand:

Looking for some assistance creating some complications for a character. I would like to come up w/ some interesting complications for my new version a character that uses a PA (Power Armor) Focus. The PA is an alien prototype of biological-mechanical-magical nature. Imagine a bio-mechanical PA that uses a magic artifact as its power source.

EXAMPLES:

-becomes linked w/ the armor in such a way that he cannot survive too long w/o wearing it or something along those lines, but not measured in phases or turns or minutes per se.

-Needs to consume twice the amount of food as the armor's biological side consumes nutrients from his contact to it (non-visual effects).

Any and all ideas are appreciated!

Hunted: Target on forehead: Any magicial foe will target character first, non foes find you insufferable. (Magic stink)

[BNakagawa]

my favorite: Magically Delicious. Physical Limitation. Any magically oriented predator will be drawn to the PC because whatever they think is the most tasty, nutritious or whatever motivates them to hunt, the PC is the best prey they have ever encountered.

[Hugh Neilson]

Sucker for a Pretty Face: Vulnerable:  2x effect from PRE attacks from attractive females

[JCR]

On 6/27/2022 at 2:21 PM, pinecone said:

Hunted: Target on forehead: Any magicial foe will target character first, non foes find you insufferable. (Magic stink)

Whoa! sounds interesting since I gave the character a "Thrillseeker" complication.

 

On 6/27/2022 at 4:33 PM, BNakagawa said:

my favorite: Magically Delicious. Physical Limitation. Any magically oriented predator will be drawn to the PC because whatever they think is the most tasty, nutritious or whatever motivates them to hunt, the PC is the best prey they have ever encountered.

Also interesting!

 

On 6/27/2022 at 7:30 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

Sucker for a Pretty Face: Vulnerable:  2x effect from PRE attacks from attractive females

Never heard of it before and though it doesn't work w/ current character I think its excellent and definitely makes sense even for non-powered characters of all genres!

[Lord Liaden]

On 6/27/2022 at 4:33 PM, BNakagawa said:

my favorite: Magically Delicious. Physical Limitation. Any magically oriented predator will be drawn to the PC because whatever they think is the most tasty, nutritious or whatever motivates them to hunt, the PC is the best prey they have ever encountered.

 

Take a look at Champions Villains Volume Three: Solo Villains. The Living Sphinx is tailor-made for this. 

[fdw3773]

Some complications for your consideration:

 

"Fight or Flight" - After a certain amount of damage is sustained (e.g. 25% STUN or BODY), the player has to make an EGO roll. If successful, the player continues the battle. If unsuccessful, the bio-armor takes over and tries to make the player leave out of survival instinct, or worse yet, deactivates into an inert state, sort of like when an animal pretends to be dead when threatened. This would also require the player to reactivate it (skill roll or something along those lines).

 

"Primal Instincts" - On the flipside, the bio-armor could automatically activate and rush-in full-tilt and fight to the death when a child or offspring is threatened as a variation on the Enraged or Berserk complication out of an innate instinct, comparable to the "Mama Bear" that will fight to protect her cubs.

 

"Touchy Digestive System" - This is a continuation of the aforementioned complication where the player must consume double the amount of food to sustain the bio-armor. You can add in that certain foods (yet to be discovered when eaten or you can come up with a tentative list) cause a random mutation, comparable to how red Kryptonite created a random mutation on Superman. This is comparable to how some people break out in hives due to certain foods and some may even go into anaphylactic shock and require medication intervention. It's up to you to make the complication serious (e.g. anaphylactic shock requiring some type of boost) or humorous (e.g. food needs to be taken out a.s.a.p. through purgative or diuretic drugs that the player carries in case of an emergency)