Rage induced Growth

[Bloodstone]

I have this concept in my head, but I just cannot figure out how to do it right and it is frustrating me.

 

This is for a Standard Superhero level game (200 +150 disad, 80 AP limit to main powers). The character is going to be the teams brick with a brain. The basic premise is I want to make a character that gets bigger and stronger as he gets angry. Sort of a Giant Man meets The Hulk type character. The catch here is, I don't want the growth to activate all at once and I don't want the character to be able to get really huge without something getting him really mad first.

 

What I am going for is that the character is a mid range brick that can give himself a nice power boost when he needs it. He has a few levels of Growth he can control perfectly (lets say 3 levels tops for now, probably with Costs End only to Activate), but that's not always going to be enough when he is fighting a more powerful brick. But he can get bigger... MUCH bigger and the only way for the character to get bigger is to get him angry, at which point he really no longer has control of his power and it taxes his system.

 

But how can I do this in stages? Gradual Effect was my gut instinct, but it's based on a set time table, so that won't work unless we assume the character always get's angry and grows at a set pace, which is not what I'm imagining at all. Sometimes he just does not get worked up enough to activate his power at full, much to his and his teammates frustration. Other times he flys off the handle and uses his power at full strength, which I can imagine will sometimes also be to his and his teammates frustration. Most of the time though, he slowly builds from a simmer to a boil, getting bigger and bigger as he sethes with rage. I'm imagining that the only way for him to shrink back to normal would be if her were knocked out or calmed down.

 

So how can I do this?

 

Should I be setting a Triger based on the Enraged/Berserk disadvantages, with different levels of Growth being assigned to different circumstances and the difficulty of the go roll? How do I suddenly add what will be essentially a NCC to a power and make it suddenly cost END once it the hero uses 4+ levels of Gorwth?

 

One thought I had (inspired by a Hulk writeup actually) was to buy the power at it's "normal" level, and then have a self only Aid that somehow cumulativly increases the power, while adding appropriate limitations...but I'm not sure exactly how to build that or if it is even what I am really looking for.

 

Anyone ever done anything like this? Is there an obvious solution that I'm just not seeing?

[Col. Orange]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

How about "No Concious Control"?

[Southern Cross]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

How about giving the character an Enraged,and then buy the Growth with an Activation Roll equal to his Enraged Roll,so if he has an Enraged of (say) 11 or less his Growth would be bought with the Limitation Activates on 11 Or Less.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

I would say it depends upon how much control the Player has over his character's emotions. If it's a purely a "I'm getting angrier now" then that's just the SFX of the Growth and leave it alone. Otherwise the Power is partially out of the Player's control and should have a Limitation to reflect his. It would depend upon how much control that is to determing the value. Check the Limited Power Limitation for guidelines.

 

As a suggestion, I'd say it's worth no more than a -1/4. This assumes that the character gets angry often, and the player can dictate when he's angry if the situation is appropriate. He can occasionally make an EGO Roll to make himself angry (or calm himself down) if no one is making him angry. For more detail, call it Requires a Skill Roll, and say the "skill" is an EGO Roll (still a -1/4 because an EGO Roll isn't an actual skill).

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

I may have seen the Hulk writeup that you refer to, and I could definitely see this being used as the basis for what you want. Start with a relatively small Aid to Growth with the maximum points bought up to the level you want, and probably a delayed Return Rate. Make it Continuous so that it will continue to feed points while it's on - the length of time could be equated with the character continuing to get bigger as he gets madder. You'll want a Trigger to set it off (I'd suggest becoming Enraged for some appropriate reason - you'll want that Psych Lim on the character's sheet, obviously). Make the Aid Self Only, and No Conscious Control at the -1 level (the character can't choose to activate it, but can use his Growth freely as it's being boosted).

 

Another possibility is simply to buy extra Growth with No Conscious Control at the -2 level. Under these circumstances it's entirely within the GM's purview as to when and how the Growth activates, so that you can freely adjust it based on the conditions at the time. IMO that would be the best way to get the kind of flexibility you describe. Admittedly many players won't want to give up that much control of their characters, but if you and your player work out the circumstances under which this happens beforehand (governed by particular events that you both agree on, the degree by which the character makes Disadvantage or Characteristic rolls, or the like), it should be acceptable.

[schir1964]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

This is just a suggestion, and it requires that some presumptions are made about the SFX of the power.

 

I'll presume that each additional level of anger required is increasingly difficult to obtain. Also I'll presume that the first three levels are so easy that the character can just inform the GM he's getting angrier.

 

From this I'll extrapolate a table for increasing levels.

 

Anger Level/Roll Required(3d6)

1/18-

2/17-

3/16-

4/14-

5/12-

6/10-

7/8-

8/6-

9/4-

10+/3-

 

For each level of anger, the roll to get angrier becomes more difficult, but not impossiible. The GM controls when a roll can be made. Each success implies an increase level of Growth available to the character. You can simulate this with an Aid to Growth, or Growth with Partially Limited Power applied to it. This really depends on just how much this power you want defined for game play.

 

You can incorporate this table into "Accidental Change" if that applicable to your game, or it can simply be your "House Rule" for this concept.

 

What do you think?

 

- Christopher Mullins

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

See if your GM will let you apply "Gradual Effect" to Growth, along with a Limitation "Only while Enraged", with a suitable Enraged Disad.

[Bloodstone]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone.

 

The GM and I are working together on this and I think towards Christopher Mullins suggestion at this time.

[pinecone]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

I've been thinkin along these lines and I was going to try some growth that is easy to activate and SE:Enraged and the Absorbtion into growth with a extended time and maybe a lim that it goes away when I calm down.....

[fbdaury]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

Well, I might be a little late on this one, but I was going to say an Activation roll with the base roll based on his ego roll and going down each stage after the first, to indicate how hard it is to reach each successive level of rage needed. Then add bonus to roll if the situation warrants it, such as someone taunting him or kicking his best friend and dog in front of him, etc. Sounds like a cool idea though, good luck.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

Well' date=' I might be a little late on this one, but I was going to say an Activation roll with the base roll based on his ego roll and going down each stage after the first, to indicate how hard it is to reach each successive level of rage needed. Then add bonus to roll if the situation warrants it, such as someone taunting him or kicking his best friend and dog in front of him, etc. Sounds like a cool idea though, good luck.[/quote']

That's similar to what Chris came up with (though he was a bit more anal with the numbers ).

 

I still think things like emotions should be kept in player control (thus not limiting the Power). The last thing I'd want is my GM saying "sorry, you're not angry enough."

 

"But he just smashed me with my own car!"

"Yeah, but you rolled a 16."

[Descant]

Re: Rage induced Growth

 

I still think things like emotions should be kept in player control (thus not limiting the Power). The last thing I'd want is my GM saying "sorry, you're not angry enough."

 

"But he just smashed me with my own car!"

"Yeah, but you rolled a 16."

 

 

Raven has a point, but it's not an absolute one. What other disads does the character have? Are there any specific things that would make a rage easier? Can he be calmed down by his own will or another teammate, or are there specific needs that must be met? If the character is normally out-of-control with his feelings, you might use ego. But if this truly is the brick-with-a-brain, and he can usually calm himself down or rile himself up with relative ease, maybe Raven's idea of just calling it SFX might be wiser and, in truth, more accurate. Maybe just put a player-and-GM decision Limitation on the power that it can only be used if there is something around that, according to personality, would reasonably make the character mad. Randomness takes a lot of the reason out of a character, so it depends on his temperament whether or not you really should consider using rolls to regulate it.

 

One more thing... How easily can he control his actions while in his largest form? I have always seen an all-out rage as being out-of-control. So how beneficial would having more strength and size be in that case? If he's only at his max power while Enraged, would that not be more of a disad, since he could just as easily hit his own team or other innocents? Thinking of this especially since you imply he does think his actions through in most cases.

 

Just some additional food for thought for you and your GM.