Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

[Michael Hopcroft]

How does one go about a spell that either undoes the Luck of a lucky character (Dispel Luck?) or makes a character inclucky (Unluckk, UAO?) for the duration of the spell? The catser's onbivous hope is that the bungling target will not survive the duration of the spell, or will be more vulnerable to the user's attacks.

 

Spewaking of which, how does one use magic to give characters temporary disadvatnages such as Unluck or Social Disadvantages (I can't think of a worse Social Disadavnateg than reeking of corpse without the ability to wash it off until the necromancer takes off the spell)? Can one use a spell to cause a character to become Huinted by someone who would not nromally hunt them (by doing something like altering their face to look like an infamous bandit, or platser fake wanted posters for the character all over the kingdom where they will attract the attention of powerful bounty hunters)?

[Rick]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

Well, anything that gives a character a disad would be major Transform. Atleast in my book.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

Everything you mentioned sounds like Transform to me.

[Outsider]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

Depending on how extreme the disad is, it could be a Minor, or even Cosmetic Transform too.

 

A curse that makes the target look like someone else, but not necessarily someone else in particular, would be a cosmetic transform. Its a pain in the but having to convince everyone that you're really you again, but it isnt debilitating.

 

A curse that makes the target into a person of the opposite gender could be cosmetic also, but would probably be better molded as a minor transform, given that it will seriously impact most character's social life/ability/confidence, especially if the GM gives the character a penalty to social interactions to represent how they just 'come across wrong' for someone of their apparant gender (wrong mannerisms and such)

 

Making the person look/smell like a brain eating zombie, would be major, as the person will almost certainly be attacked on sight by almost everyone, and will have a hugely difficult time in most social settings. A zombie in a tux is still a zombie...

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

Luck or Unluck UOO is one of the few specific prohibitions in FREd; Transform is supposed to be the way to permanently grant or remove Luck. One of the conditions of reversing the Transform could be the passage of an amount of time set by you. OTOH I suppose a Suppress Luck, or Dispel Luck Continuous might be justifiable to a broadminded GM.

 

When it comes to changing a character's social status, either by imposing a Social Disadvantage or adding various Perks, neither Physical nor Mental Transform seems quite right to me in many circumstances. I usually default to Spiritual Transform in those cases; changing a person's relationship to all of society seems sufficiently "spiritual" to me. (I once asked Steve Long about it, and he agreed that that seemed like a reasonable use of ST).

[Snarf]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

The cost of Major Transform is based on the cost of equivalent dice of killing damage, so if something is not as bad as killing someone then I'd make it a minor or cosmetic transform. I think inflicting bad luck would be a minor transform unless you're adding such a huge amount of unluck that they wish they were dead.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

One way I've simulated inflicting Unluck on someone is to use Negative Skill Levels. It doesn't really account for meteors hitting them in the head or anything like that, but it does turn them into a bungler. The master swordsman slips in a wet spot and takes a -3 penalty to OCV, the burglar takes a Security Systems penalty and is caught in the trap he's trying to disarm, the tracker somehow loses the trail of his quarry in the soft mud pathway....

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Inflicting Unluck and other Disads

 

This kind of question has come up before, and I'll give the answer that I always give, the one I've been using for years: Adjustment Powers!

 

I like to think of Disads as sort of like "negative Powers." Give someone a Disadvantage the same way you'd give them more power with an Aid (only since it's harmful, I'd call it a Drain). Certain Powers that are the opposite of certain Disads (like Luck and Unluck) should be countered first, before the disadvantage is applied. Thus:

 

Drain Luck (Bestow Unluck) 3d6 - 30 points base

 

If this power is applied vs. someone with no Luck or Unluck, it will temporarily give him 2d6 of Unluck (on an average roll). 5 points (one die) of Unluck will go away every Turn, just like with any other adjustment power. And you can buy down the fade rate, just like any other adjustment power.

 

If the power is applied to someone who has 3d6 of Luck to start with, the Luck must be drained away first. One application of the power will reduce the target to only 1d6 of Luck (on an average roll).

 

And you can construct an Aid/Succor power to reduce/suppress a character's Disads as well. You could have a "Dispel Fear" spell that works as Aid vs. Any one Fear-based Psych Lim. (+1/4). If a target has a 20-pt fear of caves, and you get 15 points of effect, the target becomes only mildly uncomfortable in caves. If you can get 20 or more points of effect, the fear goes away completely! That is, until the effect fades. You might want to buy it at +1 so the Aid loses 5 points per hour, say, then Mr. Caveophobe can handle a few hours underground.

 

The advantages of this system over using Transform are many:

1) There are built-in rules to determine how much of an effect you get - as much as you paid for! If you use Transform, how many dice of Unluck does the target get? If turning someone to stone is a Major Transform, can you really say that bestowing 3d6 of Unluck is equally Major? If 3d6 is Minor, how many dice do you get for a Major? Adjustment powers have a built-in way to determine how much of an effect you can have.

2) There are built-in rules to determine how long the effect lasts.

3) The effect is not dependant on the BODY of the target. Why should it be harder to make an ogre unlucky than a kobold? Most of these kinds of effects really have nothing to do with the target's BODY.

 

Don't forget to apply the target's Power Defense.

 

I've used this method for bestowing Unluck curses, for suppressing psych lims such as phobias and Berserk/Enraged, for causing blindness or other physical limitations. I consider Vulnerabilities/Susceptibilities to be the Disadvantage equivalents of Defensive Powers, so Adjustment powers that affect Vuln/Susc's should have their effects halved.

 

Obviously, this system can lead to some ridiculous constructs, so the GM needs to make sure that they make sense and are justified by SFX etc. I can't think of anything that would suddenly give someone a Secret ID, or take away one, for example. Also, campaign and genre conventions need to be observed here. You shouldn't be allowed to simply Succor-away Daredevil's blindness, or Professor X's handicap, for example. Certain disads should be considered "inherent."