WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

[SKJAM!]

Essentially the reflection of the "Brainwave" question....

 

 

While your team's superhealer is off-planet or otherwise unavailable for a week, your character is drawn into battle with a powerful supermenace (or supervigilante, if your character is a baddie.) In the course of said battle, the character takes a really bad shot to the head. (Or CPU, or wherever the brain is kept.)

 

When your character comes to, he/she/it discovers that it's harder to interpret sensory data, more difficult to grasp complex concepts, and his/her/its thinking seems much, much slower. Also, the character finds it far more difficult to summon willpower, the mental discipline of years stripped away in moments.

 

In game terms, your character's INT and EGO have been chopped in half; any powers or talents that are defined as being based on mindpower are also at half effectiveness. The brain damage is diagnosed by a reputable physician as being irreversable without superhealing.

 

What does your character do, short term until superhealing can be located, and long term for the few characters who do not have access to such?

 

(Naturally, what most *players* will be doing is extracting a promise from the GM that he is not hosing their character over permanently.)

 

 

SKJAM!

("how my character can get out of this no problem" solutions are also okay, of course.)

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Starguard -- just went from being brilliant to being INT 10 average. Fortunately, she's not in a role on the team that requires heavy thinking, so she'll just cling a little tighter to the team leader and follow more orders until she can get it fixed.

 

Dr. Pain -- is in deep doo-doo, because half of /his/ INT gets into borderline mental retardation. In a STR 60 brick, that's not good.

 

He'd put himself, with the gentle encouragement of friends, on the sick list until he was cured.

 

Baron von Darien -- is a genius, and now he's only slightly above average.

 

Normally, this wouldn't be massively hampering... except he's a mastermind with a *lot* of enemies, and lives by his wits.

 

*POOF*

 

He's still smart enough to go into total hit-the-mattresses bunker mentality, and he will.

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Starguard -- just went from being brilliant to being INT 10 average. Fortunately, she's not in a role on the team that requires heavy thinking, so she'll just cling a little tighter to the team leader and follow more orders until she can get it fixed.

.

 

Actually, Starguard was the character I was thinking of in the "I can get out of this no problem" category, as she *is* the team's superhealer, and thus only needs reminding to apply the "Cure Brain Damage" power to herself (at least that's the way I've been reading her character....)

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

... whoops. I hadn't read carefully enough, and I'd thought it was just 'somehow, the villain hit you with a Stupid Ray, and they haven't isolated the cause yet'. i.e. -- some kind of INT Drain, returns 5 pts/eon.

 

If it's merely "ordinary" organic brain damage, then yes, Dr. Pain's the only character of mine in trouble -- both Starguard /and/ the Baron have Regeneration, and that's not even counting her VPP.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Apex would be hit harder by this than he'd let on. His chief worry would be if he's a good father and provider for his daughter, and still any good as a super hero. If enough bad encounters cast doubts on either, he might take measures to see to having others tend to both duties until he could find a fix if one exists.

 

Recluse would be lost... until he thought of whining to Grandma Spider for help.

 

 

Wildcard with lower ego would not be good. He's half insane already. This would damage his ability to hold it together.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Style - All of his powers depend on INT and EGO. He is crippled. Even at half INT he's still brighter than the average human, and would know enough to seek out his most trustworthy contacts to ask for help. If the GM were feeling vindictive, now would be time for his hunteds to show up.

 

AnimeGai - Goes home and plugs himself into his service box. Repairs shold be completed within 24 hours.

 

Flesh Gordon - Is now borderline retarded. Giggles and says "Oh wow" a lot until some nice person leads him home. If his team mates don't find him a cure, this is the end of his career.

 

Indomitable Will - "Hah! This can't stop me! I shall do what I must for The People!" Will has massive self healing powers. Even with them halved, he should still recover, unless the GM rules against it.

 

Thirteen - Even with his INT reduced to 14 and his EGO to 13, his mastery of The Thirteen Steps should permit him to enter a healing trance and get through this.

[Vorsch]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

I think the question was meant as" what would you character do if his int and ego were permanently halved " would he still fight crime or give up.

 

Healing was specifically denied.

[farik]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Husky may become a rampaging monster since Kenneth's super intellect is the only thing that stops Husky from being a monster (that's how Shaggy got created, a bully stole the wrong juice box). Assuming his teammates can subdue him (since Husky is the one who usually has to subdue Shaggy this could be a problem). If the team manage to capture Husky and return him to the Leviathan Tower the Clarkebots and Sidekick will swing into high gear in an attempt to transform Husky back into Kenneth without exposing his secret to the members of the team who don't already know. The medic droid and research terminals should be able to devise a solution. Kenneth with an INT of 35 is still a formidable intellect but he'll feel like an idiot he'll work with the Medic Bot to develop a remedy as quickly as possible staying locked in the lab. Sidekick and the imposter driods will have to imitate Husky and Kenneth until the cure is found.

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

I think the question was meant as" what would you character do if his int and ego were permanently halved " would he still fight crime or give up.

 

Healing was specifically denied.

 

Unless, of course, the campaign contains someone whose character concept is such that they *can* fix permanent brain damage, and in that case they're only gone for a week. (And not even that when the character herself *is* the superhealer. *Any* situation simply doesn't hinder *some* characters.....)

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Well...

 

Terminal Velocity would retire. A speedster with an Int of 9 wouldn't work to well.

 

Blackcat would go into meditation. An Int of 9, and and Ego of 12 would be difficult for her, and while mechanically none of her powers require high ego, hers is mostly Ch'i based, and I would have to figure that would be impaired more than the outline demanded. If she could still do her ch'i healing she would heal herself. Otherwise, she would stop actively superheroing until a healer could be found, and retreat to the trainer role that has been her second job on the team from very nearly the beginning.

 

Ballistic is in much the same boat as Cat, only from another direction. A supersuit supermage isn't much use if he can't repair his suit or come up with nifty spells. And dropping his int to a 8 and his ego to a 9 would seriously impair his approach to crimefighting.

 

I have a tendency to run intelligent, competant but not supergenius level supers. Nailing them like that hits them in thier base concepts.

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Flippant: Is normally pretty average; now is pretty stupid. If he's _lucky_, he'll think to 'port back to the dimension that healed his body.

Otherwise, it's up to his teammates to save his ass. This will also require sme effort to keep his SI intact.

 

Estatua: Well, his brain was already behind his body/powers. So he becomes less able to use his speed effectively, and (with subnormal intellect) is going to have trouble with life.

 

Poor guys.

[BcAugust]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

For some reason, the words "public menace" come to mind for Cyrande. She's a seething cauldron of rage and blind fury, and the only thing that stops her is her dedication to her mentor's teaching. Plus, she'd forget a lot of the subtler uses of her power...

 

*twitchs* The rest of her team would pound her into submission in an epic battle, keep her under until the healer got back.

[Blue]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Anthem would cry a lot. She has no money for doctors and would end up coming to the other heroes to help her find some kind of solution.

 

Uncle Slam would use all his government resources to see to the correction. He also has friends in Atlantis that he hasn't seen in half a century that he could check with. If it fails, he'd retire. He's had a tremendously long career, and A hero at half strength is a danger, he's always thought. He'd probably charter a boat and sail the rest of his life.

 

Audra Blue, changing the story to make it some kind of sensory/electrical overload caused by her computer connections, would still be tougher than most average folks. She'd still do what she's always done, but she would definitely research everything she could in order to find a solution.

[Chimpira]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Jack T. Chance: I am not sure if anyone would really notice.

 

Daniel Knight: He is in it pretty deep. He would have to go to his older brother and ask him to plan strategies right now as Daniel is no longer capable of trusting his own instincts. Daniel would wonder how his brother would exploit this. Oh yeah and I guess I am ready to do that Nar Cola endorsement now.

 

Bane: Would go underground with his team. He has enough contacts, favors and secret hideaways to do this. Of course he could get healed by a number of different people but he would wonder why his regeneration has not kicked in by now and whom was really responsible. He would suspect a traitor on the list of people that he would turn to.

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Microman II: Would be seriously obstructed, as his primary functions involve data analysis and retrieval. Repairs should be possible with Dr Collins' help, but side effects are unknown. . .

[Wanderer]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Nova would fly back to someplace private, then administer his broad-range healing powers on himself. Even at INT 10, EGO 12, would be much worried some enemy might seize the chance to mind-control him.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Microman II: Would be seriously obstructed' date=' as his primary functions involve data analysis and retrieval. Repairs should be possible with Dr Collins' help, but side effects are unknown. . .[/quote']

 

Meanwhile, he develops an irresistable attraction to Paulie Shore and Adam Sandler movies.

[dbsousa]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Golden Eagle has an anti-hostage/Mind Control protocol set up which would kick in under these circumstances. His suit scans his brainwaves at regular intervals to determine that they do not deviate from established norms. If there is a problem, a trusted employee has been selected to receive instructions for retrieving a second suit, and charged to rescue Dexter Morache. (This is how I handed the PC off to a new player when I GM'ed).

 

Protector would be below average intelligence, and would become more violent and less rational in his attempts to patrol his neighborhood. He would compensate for his lack of planning with a savagery that would lead to a messy confrontation with several enemies working in tandem...

 

Bouncer would shortly own everything advertised on Late Night TV...

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

The Living EGO: As a powerful psi, this would severely hamper him. At 10 INT and EGO 19, he might still fight crime, but he wouldn't be a heavy hitter anymore. He'd likely retire to a background role, giving newer heroes the benefits of his vast experience. He'd get involved as often as logic poermets though. He hates being thought of as weak and helpless.

 

Rob

[Zeropoint]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Special Agent Trent would withdraw/be pulled from field duty and basically sulk until he rremembered or was reminded that he has psychokinetic regeneration, which could restore his brain to its previous state. Of course, this kind of thing is a good opportunity to re-arrange mental problems.

 

Zeropoint

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

 

Mask of Justice: Is now not nearly intelligent enough to be an investigative reporter, let alone a detective superhero. Unfortunately, his psych lims wouldn't let him stop. Things will get messy very quickly.

 

Rock Bottom: Becomes your stereotypical big dumb brick, unless the City of Baltimore is willing to spring for whatever superhealers exist in the GGU.

 

Calculus: "NOOOOO!!" His superintelligence is his power; reduced to merely "very smart", he'd devote all his resources to restoring his powers. (It happened once, it can happen again.)

 

Kira Midori: As a psychic cop, her powers are all INT- and EGO-based, so she's sidelined and....

 

"Being on medical leave sucks. Let's see if there's anything good on television."

 

"Wow, I never realized how fascinating reality shows were before. Hey, what's QVC?"

 

"Ooh, what a pretty necklace! And it's 50% off, so I'll be saving $500 dollars! That's a third of my rent! Two more necklaces, and I'll be saving a whole month's worth!"

 

"How can I be out of money? I still have checks!"

 

"So, you'll give me all that money just for posing for some pictures? Neat! Hey, wait a minute, why am I not wearing any clothes in your mental image?"

 

Talion: Is reduced to a drooling idiot. But at least he isn't whining about how miserable his life is for as long as it takes his regeneration to fix the damage.