Character help needed

[xgotghrrl]

Hello all, first time poster to the list...pls be gentle with me *S*

 

Okay so here's the question...I'm soon to be running my first game and well one of my players has come up with a char idea and part of it has me stumped.

 

The char is named Wraith and she is a Mutant who has various ghost like powers...namely what the player proposed was that the char can phase through matter, become transparent, float and most importantly fire bolts of ecoplasma.

 

Now I've got a handle on the first three ablities, but bolts and or streams of ghostly liquid like ecoplasma?? I asked the player herself, well what does Ecoplasma do?? And she was like...ummm I don't know but I think it would be really neat to be able to use it.

 

Ooookay?? So that is my stupid newbie question...I can't find anything in the core book my best mate gave me, so um any suggestions on what a ecoplasmic blast would be capable of??

 

Love Always

Xgoth

[Nightfly]

See Ghostbusters for the answer to that question.

Bill Murray (aka Peter Venkman) took just such a blast.

[xgotghrrl]

Thanks...I really do need to check out the flim, have not seen it in ages...but honestly I'm not looking to slime anyone. *S*

 

Now that I think about it, I'm kinda leaning towards having the ecoplasma serve as the source of this chars powers...her mutant abilty is ecoplasmic control...which enables her to float, phase and fire.

 

Char is leaving the bolt thing to me...so Hmm...should an ecoplasmic blast do damage, shatter windows, knock a bad guy back a few blocks? or should it be more esoteric and metaphysical than that...

 

just trolling umm trawling for ideas here mates...thank you

 

Xgothgrrl

[Nightfly]

I'd probably just make it a typical EB (but w/ the special effect being it's ectoness)

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

I have a PC called Wraith... with mutant powers... who has control over ectoplasm(ic beings; not a complete copy, thankfully. ).

 

Telekinesis. Really, ghosts are the second most classic users of TK. and ectoplasm is the best example I can give of non-invisible telekinesis.

 

If you want, maybe it should be targeted like a Mental Power, or have a linked Ego Attack or Attack vs Mental Defense.

 

Have an energy blast slot if the PC has a multipower and you don't go with a linked attack vs Mental Defense; they will *bitch* if they don't do enough damage.

[Eyendasky80]

I'd go with the EB and keep it simple. If the player wants a more flexible interpretation of ectoplasm, maybe a multipower with different uses of the ectoplasm.

50 pt multipower

slot 1 EB

slot 2 TK

slot 3 Entangle

 

yadda yadda

[Agent Chains]

I would have to go with the multipower idea listed above. The phasing and all that are the internal part of the character and should be bought individually or as part of an EC so they can be used at anytime. The multipower could be used for the gross tossing around of ectoplasm. EB, TK, Entangle(sliming), Ego Attack maybe(ectoscream), and so on.

 

One reminder is that if she wants any of her slots to affect the real world while desolid that is a +2 advantage. You might want to consider increased end multiplier on such powers to make sure they are not abused. A character that can float around desolid(which in many cases means untouchable) and EB people at will could be a bit unbalancing to your game.

[Jarandis]

Re: Character help needed

 

Originally posted by xgotghrrl

Ooookay?? So that is my stupid newbie question...I can't find anything in the core book my best mate gave me, so um any suggestions on what a ecoplasmic blast would be capable of??

 

What do you want it to be capable of? Thats largely the whole point of the HERO System. Names are just that.. names. What matters is the effect you are trying to achieve.

 

Speak to your player, what does she envision using the ectoplasm for? Does she want to damage people with it? Then its an energy blast or a killing attack. Does she want to be able to create a big pair of ectoplasmic hands that can pick stuff up and throw it around, then its telekinesis. Does she want to do classic Ghostbusters and 'Slime' people with it? Then its an entangle (or to be more sneaky, a drain, affects all movement powers simultaneously, area effect 1 hex, but thats quite expensive!) Does she want to be able to fill an area with ectoplasm so people can't see through it? Thats Darkness. Coat herself with it to absorb or deflect damage? Armor or force field (With Ablative perhaps so people can blow chunks of it away?) Mould constructs out of it to help her fight? Summon.

 

And so on, you get the idea. Chances are she will want to do some or all of that and some other stuff besides in which case you are looking at a Multipower or an Elemental Control to tie it all together. Pick a power.. I'd say almost any physical power can have the special effect 'Ectoplasm' if you really want it to.

 

 

Hope that helps

 

Jarandis

[xgotghrrl]

First of all thanks to everyone for the advice...it is appreciated.

 

Now, after speaking in depth with the player we have narrowed down Wraith's powers to the following list and so I come before you all for clarification and sage advice.

 

As I said in my orginal post..Wrath is a mutant who has the ablity to channel and manipulate ectoplasm, hence giving her various ghost-like powers. These powers have been narrowed down to the following.

 

EC: Ectoplasmic Manipulation

A) Flight

Desoild (Can be affected by magic, mental attacks, Spirits and other desoilds)

C) Telekinesis

D) Entangle (Via tendrels of Ectoplasm)

E) Images

 

And finally Wraith has Sense: Detect Spirits

 

Now here's the question...

 

Images...the limitation for this is that all visible illusions look well like ghosts..ie: silvery gray aura glow and transparent. Now can someone give me some practical purposes for images. Well ya see what the player and I are debating is since we want Wraith to have the traditional Haunting powers...but as a viable superpower...is it worth having? As the char gains exp she'll prob upgrade images to summouning but for right now ya see.

 

Just looking for some practical usages for this skill...and yes the char would have full sensory illusions.

 

TK: How much TK should you purchase to be able to chug a SUV at some one or does the skill not work that way (Sorry no book on me till I get back home from the folks after the holiday) And what was the extra cost for fine control?

 

And finally...how do you guys like the char as described?

 

Her FXs are that when she activates her ectoplasmic control Wraith becomes transparent and glows with a ghostly silver gray aura, the temperature around her drops several degress (Ie: It gets a bit chilly) and a slight wind picks up around her

 

Thanks

Xgothgrrl

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Nightfly

See Ghostbusters for the answer to that question.

Bill Murray (aka Peter Venkman) took just such a blast.

Actually I believe the Ghostbusters took liberties with the original folklore for comedic value. AFAIK, ectoplasm is just what is supposed to give ghosts their physicality. Thus, it is "fake" matter. Your ectoplasm should either be just a regular EB that works against PD (no limitation or advantage) or could be some kind of Green Lantern effect where you can make physical objects that disappear as soon as you stop concentrating on it (try a VPP with an Ego-based skill roll).

[xgotghrrl]

Yeah we did discuss the whole green laternesque thing...hence the reason that summoning may be forthcoming later on in the chars development. But really from listening to lesile the char is really sounding more like a mentalist type or Medium.

 

The way we were going is that for our purpose Ectoplasm would be the basic building block of the Spirit Realm...now really matter, but not really energy either...hence Plasm *S*

But Ectoplasm is not only the force that gives spirits, shades, ghosts etc to the ability to manifest in the "Real World" But also the source of all their nifty spooky little powers...like the ones mentioned in previous post.

 

Not sure if that made sense...but ohh well...I know what I was trying to say *S*

 

Love Always/Joyous Noel/Merry X-Mas/ Feliz Navidad/Happy Hannakuah and Blessed Soltise

Xgothgrrl

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

Paladium Books has 'Ectoplasm' as one of their standard low level psychic powers. You should be able to flip through just about any core game book to find it ... and can gain some nifty ideas for Wraith in the process.

[farik]

My espionage based super hero had ectoplasm generation based powers.

 

I defined ectoplasm as matter held together weakly only on the subatomic level and had the classic spider-man web shooter power suite without the web shooters. Since the matter was "tacky" and bonding at the subatomic level it was also the explanation for wall crawling. Not really the type of powers your player is looking for but the reason I chose ectoplasm as my special effect was that it'a the perfect SFX for the entangle power. By it's nature it disolves into nothingness leaving no evidence while at the same time that makes it distinct since there is no other substance which would be chemically inert and all samples would vanish without residue so anyone familiar with the substance would recognize it immediately.

[McCoy]

Originally posted by xgotghrrl

First of all thanks to everyone for the advice...it is appreciated.

 

Now, after speaking in depth with the player we have narrowed down Wraith's powers to the following list and so I come before you all for clarification and sage advice.

 

As I said in my orginal post..Wrath is a mutant who has the ablity to channel and manipulate ectoplasm, hence giving her various ghost-like powers. These powers have been narrowed down to the following.

 

EC: Ectoplasmic Manipulation

A) Flight

Desoild (Can be affected by magic, mental attacks, Spirits and other desoilds)

C) Telekinesis

D) Entangle (Via tendrels of Ectoplasm)

E) Images

 

And finally Wraith has Sense: Detect Spirits

 

Now here's the question...

 

Images...the limitation for this is that all visible illusions look well like ghosts..ie: silvery gray aura glow and transparent. Now can someone give me some practical purposes for images. Well ya see what the player and I are debating is since we want Wraith to have the traditional Haunting powers...but as a viable superpower...is it worth having? As the char gains exp she'll prob upgrade images to summouning but for right now ya see.

 

Just looking for some practical usages for this skill...and yes the char would have full sensory illusions.

 

TK: How much TK should you purchase to be able to chug a SUV at some one or does the skill not work that way (Sorry no book on me till I get back home from the folks after the holiday) And what was the extra cost for fine control?

 

And finally...how do you guys like the char as described?

 

Her FXs are that when she activates her ectoplasmic control Wraith becomes transparent and glows with a ghostly silver gray aura, the temperature around her drops several degress (Ie: It gets a bit chilly) and a slight wind picks up around her

 

Thanks

Xgothgrrl

Are you puting an active point cap on attack powers? If so, put the TK, Entangle, and images in a multipower at that limit. (Would also suggest a normal EB, an Ego Attack, and an EB, NND in the same MP).

 

A small truck can be picked up with a 35 STR (so sayeth FREd), so that should be about right for an SUV. That would cost 53 active points, plus 10 for fine manipulation. Impressive for a ghost, a little light weight for a superhero's primary attack (in my opinion, it is your campagine after all).

 

Remember if she wants to affect the real world while desolid that's a +2 advantage. If she just looks ghostly, transparent but can still be affected by the physical world, that's a special effect, no charge.

 

Don't forget some Change Enviroment, 0 range, for her cold breeze aura.