A race you can't stat out

[Michael Hopcroft]

I like Slayers for a lot of reasons. one of them is that they had a really cool concept of a race of demons called "mazoku", which simply means "demon" in Japanese (they are referred to as "Monsters" with a capital M in the sub to distinguish them from such "mundane" monsters as trolls and berserkers. Collectively they are reffered to in the dub as "the Monster Race".)

 

Mazoku live off pain, anguish and suffering. it's their food. But their natures and personalities are as variable as those of people. They are evil only because they are in opposition to the needs of humans, and some are more vil than others. Mazoku has astral bodies rather than phsyical ones, and whoile some are quite hideous others are indistinguishable in apparance from humans. One was able to pass for human (posing as a priest, which was actually true -- he just happened to be the general/priest of one of the four Great dark lords in that world) among the hero party in the series for a very long time, and manged for the most part to be more annoying than frightening. You can't damage them with purely physical weapons or magic that works purely on the physical palne, but magic or weapons that reach into the astral can harm or even kill them. In Hero terms, Mazoku would have large VPPs with few restrictions on their use -- the more powerful the mazoku, the larger the power pool.

 

The mazoku's greatest rivaly was with the Golden Dragons, who could assume human form. A thousand years ago a war was fought between the mazoku and the Dragons, which ended pretty much in a bloody draw. Is was then that the great dragon-goddess Ceiphied managed to split the Dark lord Shabranigdo (that world's Auron analogue) into sven pieces and spread the parts all over thw world. The is some question as to whether the crator of that universe, referred to as the lord of nightmares or LON, is closer to being a God or a mazoku -- she certainly bears a kinship with the Mazoku and is refrred to by them as "the Mother of All".

 

Writing up mazoku as a race would be impossible because every one is different in just about eevry way. Which actually makes for a great idea for use in just about any fantasy world -- a race of ultra-powerful beings that you don't place a finger on because each one is so different in nature, pwoers and temperment.

[Snarf]

I've seen a little bit of slayers. From your description it sounds like these guys would make great villians for any game.

 

If you wanted to do a write up, it sounds like there are a few stattable features they all have in common. If they all feed off of pain and suffering, you could come up with a mechanic for how much they need to survive. This might qualify them all for a social limitation, since every other race would find this offensive. If they all have astral bodies, then they have desolidificatin versus physical and energy which is circumvented with astral weapons and magic. There could be bunch of options on the package for different sized VPPs. A write-up couldn't say anything about personality if they're very diverse but it could specifically mention that not all Mazoku are equally evil.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Here is my first attempt at Slayers most imafm\ous mazoku -- Xellos the Trickster!

 

Xellos the Trickster Priest

 

Player: NPC

 

Val	Char	Cost
20	STR	10
23	DEX	39
18	CON	16
19	BODY	18
23	INT	13
39	EGO	58
20	PRE	10
18	COM	4
10	PD	6
9	ED	5
4	SPD	7
14	REC	12
60	END	12
38	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM04" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 210

 

Cost	Power	END
212	Mazoku Powers: Variable Power Pool (Dark magic), 100 base + 112 control cost, Conditional Power Power does not work in Very Uncommon Circumstances (Power does not work when it goes against interests of Beastmaster Xellas; +0), Usable By Other (+1/4), Powers Can Be Changed As A Zero-Phase Action (+1) (212 Active Points)

Powers Cost: 212

 

 

Cost	Skill
3	Acrobatics 14-
3	Acting 13-
3	Bribery 13-
7	Bureaucratics 15-
5	Conversation 14-
7	Interrogation 15-
3	Lipreading 14-
3	Persuasion 13-
3	Seduction 13-
3	Sleight Of Hand 14-
3	Tactics 14-

Skills Cost: 43

 

 

Cost	Talent
3	Absolute Time Sense
15	Beast Speech
10	Follow-Through Attack
6	Lightning Reflexes: +4 DEX to act first with All Actions

Talents Cost: 34

 

 

Total Character Cost: 499

 

Val	Disadvantages
20	Psychological Limitation: Secretive: (Very Common, Strong)
20	Social Limitation: Subject to orders for Beastmaster Xellas: (Very Frequently, Major)
20	Susceptibility: Joy and Happiness of Others, 1d6 damage per Phase (Common)
10	Dependence:: The Pain and Suffering of Others Takes 3d6 Damage (Very Common, 6 Hours)

Disadvantage Points: 70

 

Base Points: 75

Experience Required: 354

Total Experience Available: 354

Experience Unspent: 0

[AnotherSkip]

Ed Horrors, Nuff said!

[Michael Hopcroft]

I could have given Xellos another 5 disad points because of Filia. It would be Rivalry with the Dragon shrine maiden, but the question is what kind? Professional? or Romantic?

 

Let me explain. the usual definition of a Romantic Rivalry is that you and your rival are after the same person. Like two ace pilots after the pretty nurse back at the base. But Xellos and Filia fight with such gusto that many fans suspect an underlying attraction. It's the "couple-in-denial" syndrome that is very common to anime, of which there are too many exambples to list.

 

There are two couples in Slayers that are regarded as 'canon". that is directly supported by the source material. Xellos and filia is more of a 'fanon" couple -- the fans suspect but there is no direct proof.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I just realized that the Xellos writeup needs -- work. He doesn;t JUST have a VPP to work with, although most of what he coes could be modleed with a VPP. I guess i had a problem with hero Designer when writing him up.

 

I'll have to refamiliarize myself with the software again and make one more try to add a few of his extra powers. For one thing, Xellos has the annoying habit of teleporting all over the place for no apparent reason. That merits a separate power, especially since he can teleport ANYWHERE.