Beesting Allergy

[Mutant for Hire]

Over on Keenspot in the CRFH!!! Forum, there's a thread where we're trying to build one of the characters of a webcoming in HERO powers. I'm doing my own construction of the character's powers, but I'm running into a problem with one of the Disadvantages.

 

The character in question has a very bad allergy to beestings. In other words, if he doesn't get medical treatment fast he could die. It could be a Vulnerability except that it doesn't kill instantly. It could be a Susceptability except again, he only needs to be stung once but he doesn't die instantly. I'd generally model it as 1d6 BODY per turn until he gets medical treatment, but I'm not sure of the point cost.

 

Help is appreciated (it's a cool webcomic too )

[Dust Raven]

Re: Beesting Allergy

 

Sounds more like a Physical Limitation.

 

Value would depend upon how often he might get stung by a bee (form what I've seen, this is Uncomon in most games), and how severly limited he is when it happens. Assuming he goes catatonic nearly instantly and remains so until treated, this sounds like Fully.

 

If there is a serious threat of him dieing (not a "oh, no, bee stings can kill him"; bullets are dangerous too, but how many player characters do you see killed by them?) you might also want to put a Susceptibility to Being catatonic from bee stings that drains CON/BODY until he dies or breaks the coma.

[Jhamin]

Re: Beesting Allergy

 

I'd simplify it into one limit: Susceptibility to untreated Bee stings.

 

If you get stung, it is by default untreated and stays that way until you get help.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Beesting Allergy

 

Apply Gradual Effect to the Susceptibility damage.

[Edsel]

Re: Beesting Allergy

 

How common are bee stings anyway? Where I live see wasps, yellowjackets, bumble bees, etc. all the time. However I am now 42 and I have only been stung something like 10 times in my entire life. In my case That makes it so uncommon as to not be worth very many points.

 

If my case is typical, you'll get stung about every 4 years. However, if a person is deathly allergic to stings they are going to be much more cautious around bees. I'd almost think that the psychological aspects would be more of a disadvantage (fear, worry, going out of you way to avoid them, etc.).

 

Frequency of bee stings is completely under the control of the GM. So it really depends on how often the GM wants this threat to crop up.

[Law Dog]

Re: Beesting Allergy

 

And you know how the rules state that a disadvantage that doesn't come up in the game isn't really a disadvantage. Otherwise you could take your next Fantasy Hero character with "Fear of M-TV" or some other such nonsense.

 

If the player were insistant on taking the Bee Sting disadvantage, the character is going to get stung. I might even bee prone to introducing an NPC like Hivemaster from V&V or Swarm from the 80's Spider-Friends cartoon.