AVAD Life Support question

[visitor vajra]

I'm essentially building a character who can steal the years off people's lives when making skin contact.

 

At first I thought about a Drain but they can't get the years back so I dismissed this idea.

I then thought about a HTH no range Killing Attack that's Inherent and Always On with Invisible Power Effects and made the whole year-stealing bit a special effect.

 

I was reading through the AVAD advantage to list wearing clothing as an "alternate defense" (instead choosing to make it a Limited Power limitation), but I was curious if I could define the NND as "Life Support: Longevity (Immortal)"?

 

my context is 6E1 pg245

[Lord Liaden]

That's been a classic Hero System build for similar effects for many years. 6E1 p. 326 specifies LS can be used as a defense in the case of AVAD, but only the NND version. As a matter of fact, a published 6E character, the Champions supervillain called The Curse (Champions Villains Volume Three: Solo Villains), has almost that exact Power construct: a massive RKA with No Range, NND vs Longevity (rated at the +1 level). So your character would be in good company.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Sure, that's a valid build.  It all comes down to how you want to model "aging" which can be done a lot of ways.

[unclevlad]

Also note that this is a much nastier attack in a story, than it tends to be in-game.  It's based on the fear or dread such an attack induces.  The players can't feel the visceral, horrific notion of their life literally being taken away.  Of course, that just says, make sure your storytelling chops are working right.

[Lord Liaden]

Exactly. There's a big difference between, "You take 18 Stun and 6 Body damage," versus, "A wave of trembling and weakness washes over you. You see your skin start to wrinkle and your limbs wither." Followed by, "You take 18 Stun and 6 Body damage."

[Grailknight]

It's a pretty common power until you add the part about "can't get the years back". Except for a few Warhammer of White Wolf games, I don't recall many games that have damage shot of death than can't be healed.

 

It's just not in the spirit or mechanics of most games.

 

" Sorry Mike but you have to retire your character or adventure as a geriatric" is not going to fly far at most gaming tables except as a special quest.

[unclevlad]

Also, I just noted:  Longevity (Immortal) would likely be rejected by almost all GMs.  There are some limits on how rare an NND defense can be, and full immortality is generally VERY, VERY rare in any related genre, and in-game.  Heck, even going with Longevity:  200 years is typically not going to come into play for a PC.

 

1 hour ago, Grailknight said:

It's a pretty common power until you add the part about "can't get the years back". Except for a few Warhammer of White Wolf games, I don't recall many games that have damage shot of death than can't be healed.

 

It's just not in the spirit or mechanics of most games.

 

" Sorry Mike but you have to retire your character or adventure as a geriatric" is not going to fly far at most gaming tables except as a special quest.

 

D&D, 1st and 2nd Ed.  Wish, sometimes Miracle, Haste.  Probably some others I've forgotten.  Haste was, IIRC, 1 year.  Wish was 5.  The problem was, it wasn't enforced, for the reasons you mention.  Granted, in 3E, Wish went to an XP cost...and that was just as bad. mechanically.  (This was even admitted by, IIRC, Andy Collins back in the day.  XP should never be a currency.)  

 

Another way to do a corruptive-style attack would be NND (Regen).  If you wanted to limit it to, say 20 minutes or faster, I think that would fly;  per minute would be borderline to me.  

 

Hmm.  Another thought...expensive as heck, but interesting.  RKA no range, tied to a Dispel Healing/Regen, Time Limit 1 hour.  Not the same as aging, but it will throw the fear of God at the PCs. 

[Lord Liaden]

Hey, it's magic-induced aging. Why couldn't the lost years "heal" back?

[unclevlad]

In my experience, in fantasy, reversing an aging attack is *extremely* rare and difficult.   

 

That said, raising the dead is often hard...but doable.  Reversing an aging effect can't be any worse, don't you think?  

 

Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series had a case where one of the characters died and had to be raised.  The cost wasn't monetary;  it was service of a couple different types, to the Church/god involved, and very, very serious.  If you're familiar with Vampire?  Another way to phrase it would be a life boon.  For removing aging, the service required would tend to be related to how much aging was involved.  Couple years...with a 20 year old victim?  Not a huge big deal, it likely wouldn't matter.  Without more life lost, it probably wouldn't impact the kid for 15 or so years, and the active lifespan of an idiot who seeks out these opportunities is rather less than that. 😁  If it's something like 20 years...it might depend on whether or not that aging starts translating into physical infirmity...permanent -1 to all DEX rolls, -1 OCV and DCV, and -3 to DEX for purposes of determining initiative order.  With that, then the damage, and therefore cost, is HIGH.  Without?  Pretty mild.

 

Also note that aging attacks do mean you have to think about indirect effects like this. 

[visitor vajra]

A couple points:

- I am a player and my GM is planning frequent trips to hell in a Dr. Strange type modern day superhero setting.

- The maximum points for the base cost is a single d6 without STR bonuses, any higher and my GM refuses this power as he should. This is a gimmick of my character and not a power that should be viable in combat.

- I should clarify there is no “aging”, per growing grey hairs and turning into a vegetable, rather their lifespan is shorter in a Death Note style effect of meeting an “unfortunate fate” sooner. So perhaps more of a curse.

 

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Hey, it's magic-induced aging. Why couldn't the lost years "heal" back?

Due to the setting featuring lots of magic spells and the like, a means of counteracting this power is well within the realm of possibility such as elixirs of life and such.

 

Thank you all for the responses, I was curious to the insight of other players, those more experienced than I, and rules-gurus.

 

Vajra