Help with Zombie Be Gone

[Teflon Billy]

I just saw the remake of Dawn of the Dead and it got me thinking.

 

First a little background:

 

I hate zombies. I hate them with a passion, ever since I saw Return of the Living Dead when I was 10 years old. That was only movie that scared me as a kid. These zombies were much worse than Romero's Dawn of the Dead zombies,

 

You couldn't kill them (the old kill the brain bit didn't work), you couldn't burn them (that just created a lovely biochemical aerosol that rained down and animated the entire nearest graveyard), they were overcome with an insatiable hunger for brains from any source (dogs were not ignored by the zombies.) All this on top of all of the usual zombie invulnerabilities and advantages over normal humans.

 

It's the futility and hopelessness of the situation that scared me. There was absolutely nothing those living in a mundane world could do to stop them, they were helpless (I found the Grudge disturbing for much the same reasons.)

 

Lets set the baselines for the zombie: Standard starting characteristics, except lets make this a worse case scenerio baseline zombie:

 

STR 30

CON 30

BODY 30

SPD 4

 

I set have the STR, CON, and SPD at those levels because since the zombies (the lesser decomposed ones at least) have zero pain so they are able to push their bodies to there physiological maximums without regards to injury or aerobic fitness. I set the BODY to human maximums do to there complete lack of any vital organs, and ability to keep attacking even with large chunks of themselves blown off, leaving me to believe that their BODY far and away exceeds normal humans.

 

So, being a big fan of the Hero System, I was trying to think up a Power write-up coming have in a Comic Book/Fantasy campaign that would be used by the local Dr. Doom/Archmage character would have.

 

I was thinking of a circular mystical energy shield that they could cast around themselves that would disintegrate on contact. They have to be able to walk without being hindered by the zombies (the zombies in general can't push back on the shield, and the protected character can't nullify the field by deliberatly walking into a crowd of zombies to attack them)

 

What do you guys think? How would you write this power up? Points are NO object on this.

 

TB

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

what does the shield do really? does it shunt zombies aside?

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

It disintegrates them on contact, so I'm thinking a damage shield with a ridiculously high KA.

 

But I'm not sure how I should go about writing it.

 

TB

[pinecone]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Hmmm...Cheap: Invisability:Only vs unliving/nonliving (Robots And Zombies!) ......Desolid: Does not protect from damage, cannot pass through objects, special effect : Zombies and undead can't touch you likely expensive on active but cheap after the lims...But technicaly you can't effect anything while its up...me I'd hand wave that...someone else might not be that way...

[pinecone]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

It disintegrates them on contact, so I'm thinking a damage shield with a ridiculously high KA.

 

But I'm not sure how I should go about writing it.

 

TB

Ohhh...RKA 1D6 PEN,Autofire,Continues,REnd, X10 shots, the Zombie bug zapper...Lim: Only vs undead....

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Zombie Vaporizer - Xd6 ED HKA, Area of Effect: Radius (+1), Damage Sheild (+1/2), Continuous (+1), Costs No END (+1/2), Two Dimensional (-1/4),

 

any of...

 

OIF/IIF: Zombie Vaporizer Generator (-1/2 or -1/4 depending if it glows, or humms or something) Incantations (-1/4 or -1/2 if chanting is required throught), and Gestures (-1/4 for one hand, at start, -1/2 for both hands, -1 for both hands continuous, -1/2 for one hand continuous)

 

Maybe No concious control (-1), which means he can't "shut off" the power once he turns it on i think, he can only stun himself or go unconcious.

 

and finally: Only works on Zombies (-1) (assuming half the things that attack you are zombies)

 

Other neat ideas are....

 

Extra Dimensional Movement, usuable as attack (+3/4) and damage sheild that, to send zombies that touch you to another dimension,

 

and Transform - Zombie to Dust (Xd6) with damage sheild.

 

You'd also want a forcefield to protect you if a zombie tries to run into you, either that or a force wall.

 

and finally "Immunity to Zombie Spoors/Blood Infections/Other Vectors of Infection" 3-5 pts

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Hmmm...Cheap: Invisability:Only vs unliving/nonliving (Robots And Zombies!) ......Desolid: Does not protect from damage' date=' cannot pass through objects, special effect : Zombies and undead can't touch you likely expensive on active but cheap after the lims...But technicaly you can't effect anything while its up...me I'd hand wave that...someone else might not be that way...[/quote']

 

 

just buy a little bit of STR with "usable while desolid"

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Ohhh...RKA 1D6 PEN' date='Autofire,Continues,REnd, X10 shots, the Zombie bug zapper...Lim: Only vs undead....[/quote']I was thinking of some sort of barrier 1" around the user. I don't want the zombie hoard to get with arms reach of the user. Remember the genre, zombie hoards attack in the dozens, he would need to kill at least 20 at a go, I don't think this attack would be enough. That's why I figured damage shield would be better.

 

Other aspects: Only damages undead, doesn't interact with the physical environment (a telephone pole would pass through the barrier as if it wasn't there if the user was walking down a sidewalk)

 

TB

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

huge area of effect radius and basically anything, you could hit the ground and send out a magical shockwave that sends zombies flying (leaping useable as attack)

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

huge area of effect radius and basically anything' date=' you could hit the ground and send out a magical shockwave that sends zombies flying (leaping useable as attack)[/quote']I want the image of this power to be the character calmly walking around with the zombies running straight at the nimbus of coruscating lights that ring the character and having them disintegrate as the pass through the barrier (running zombie => | => Innert Dust falling at the character's feet)

 

TB

[pinecone]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

I was thinking of some sort of barrier 1" around the user. I don't want the zombie hoard to get with arms reach of the user. Remember the genre, zombie hoards attack in the dozens, he would need to kill at least 20 at a go, I don't think this attack would be enough. That's why I figured damage shield would be better.

 

Other aspects: Only damages undead, doesn't interact with the physical environment (a telephone pole would pass through the barrier as if it wasn't there if the user was walking down a sidewalk)

 

TB

I forgot to put down D/S...if zombies have resistant defs then you need the PEN and 30 -40 shots to poof them, other wise you can lose PEN and 10 shots at avg=3.5 each should do the job, just link it to a force wall and you've got a zombie zapper...

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

I want the image of this power to be the character calmly walking around with the zombies running straight at the nimbus of coruscating lights that ring the character and having them disintegrate as the pass through the barrier (running zombie => | => Innert Dust falling at the character's feet)

 

TB

 

 

maybe throw physical manifestation on there for the attack?

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

So, to recap the options put forth so far:

 

Force Wall (to keep the zombies physically from penetrating straight through the barrier before the damage can destroy them)

Damage Shield (do I put this on the Force Wall? How many dice of damage should I use to insure killing the zombies before they have a chance of attacking?)

 

TB

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Ok here's my power write up. Please review it and make suggestions as needed.

 

What this power MUST do:

 

Task: Prevent the user from being attacked by zombies.

 

Conditions: On a standard suburban street the user is attacked by an unlimited shambling horde of undead.

 

Standards: The zombies cannot penetrate the barrier.

The zombies must be destroyed on coming in contact with the barrier.

The Power must be mobile, centered on the user.

The barrier is transparent to everything except zombies.

 

Questions:

 

Does the Force Wall have enough DEF to prevent a massed attack of possibly dozens (if not hundreds) of zombies from bringing it down?

 

Is the damage shield powerful enough to destroy a zombie with 30 BODY, up to 15 rPD (either through natural physical toughness or by happenstance you have an armor wearing zombie)?

A zombie is considered dead at 0 BODY, it has no healing ability.

 

A special effect of this power is that the zombie when destroyed is turned into innert dust (of significantly lesser overall mass and volume, maybe as little as two or three pinches of dust) Do I need to add a transform Zombie => Dust, or can I just declare that as a SFX of the power when it destroys a zombie?

 

Cost	Power	END
222	Ward verse Zombies: (Total: 1155 Active Cost, 222 Real Cost) Force Wall (30 PD; 6" long and 3" tall), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Transparent to ED Attacks (+1/2), Mobile (+1) (311 Active Points); IIF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 1/2), Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Only verse Zombies; -1), Spell (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) (Real Cost: 69) plus Killing Attack - Ranged 15d6 (standard effect: 45 BODY, 0 STUN), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (Offensive; +3/4), Continuous (+1) (844 Active Points); IIF Fragile Expendable (Extremely Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1 1/2), Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Only verse Zombies; -1), Spell (-1/2), -2 Decreased STUN Multiplier (-1/2), Linked (Force Wall; -1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4) (Real Cost: 153)	0

Powers Cost: 222

 

TB --I hates zombies.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

1. You'll want to put "transparency to ED" (+1/2) or else it shuts down after taking a single point of ED (like fire), p181. Otherwise no zombie, on his own or by the dozens can deal 30PD with his straight strenght. If they had a 6 dice killing attack or something then yes, they could shatter it, but the nice thing about forcewall is that unless a single attack can break it, attacks don't stack together and stun doesn't get through

 

2), yes unless you are using hit locations, and the Damage shield automatically hits the body part that hit you (probably hands or arms) which would half body after defense, so making a 45PD attack would deal 30 past 15 resistant and divided in half to 15. To insure insta-kill on hit locations you need to take something like 75 damage, so you can subtract 15, and divide by 2 to get 30

 

3) if it's not an advantage to have the sfx be that you turn them to dust, then you don't have to buy a small "transfrom dead zombie to dust" linked to the HKA. But if it is an advantage, like if necromancers can raise defeated zombies or something (maybe dead zombie bodies polute the water like in Resident Evil) then you'll want to by a transform, which isn't too bad, because it's 1Body for 1Kg i think. You'll want to ask the GM about this. I'd say no, but someone else with a diffrent game might say yes

[prestidigitator]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Eh. I'd forget Force Wall and Damage Shield. Points aren't an issue? How about:

RKA: 8d6 energy;

Area of Effect: 2 hex radius (+3/4);

Double Knockback (I forget value; +1/4?);

Personal Immunity (+1/4);

Continuous (+1);

Reduced End Cost: 0 End (+1/2);

Persistant (+1/2);

No Range (-1/2);

Only vs. Zombies (value depends on your campaign);

I added Personal Immunity because I don't like the disadvantage, "Only vs. Zombies," giving the bonus of not affecting the user or his/her friends (I'd include friends, landscape, etc., with the combination of both Personal Immunity and, "Only vs. Zombies").

 

While this might not destroy zombies immediately upon contact, they are more than likely to be knocked back quite a ways, so they'll have to get up and enter the field again....

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

you need the damage sheild so it happens automatically, and the force wall to keep the hits from racking up and knocking out out, which is the effect that was discribed.

 

maybe some levels of "Lack of Weakness" for it, for those cunning "Find weakness" zombies

 

and if you don't like "only vs. Zombies" have it be selective

[Runehammer]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Thinking more of a religious icon sort of thing...

Major Transform 10d6 (zombie to dust), Hole In The Middle (+1/4), Does Knockback (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Explosion (+1/2), Selective Target (+1/4), Mobile (+1), Continuous (+1) (787 Active Points); OIF Fragile Expendable (Difficult to obtain new Focus; -1), Limited Target ([Very Limited]; -1), Spell (-1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) (175 points)

W/Drain REC 2d6 (20 Active Points); Linked (Transform; Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time; -1/4) Reduced END Zero (+1/2)(24 points)

(Total cost 199 points)

Figure with the explosion they will take more damage the closer they come to it and adding knockback means they will be constantly pushed away. Being stupid zombies (read hungry) they will continue to close with the wielder...

I rather like the zombie to dust thing and with the drain recovery it will take pretty much a century or so for the little buggers to come back for the sequel...

[prestidigitator]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

you need the damage sheild so it happens automatically' date=' and the force wall to keep the hits from racking up and knocking out out, which is the effect that was discribed.[/quote']

Nope. Anyone entering a Continuous Area of Effect Power is immediately affected by it (as well as then being affected in the owner's Phases). A Damage Shield doesn't affect a target until they actually attack the owner (or Force Wall if they are Linked). I don't think he wants them getting that close, or being able to break down a FW to leave them defenseless. BTW, the zombies would have to have an enourmous amount of KB Resistance, Str, and/or Movement to get through my damage field, as the average KB generated to a standing target will be about 45".

 

EDIT: On second thought, drop Double Knockback unless you reduce the number of dice; an average of 18" is more than enough and won't cause nearly so much collateral damage.

 

maybe some levels of "Lack of Weakness" for it, for those cunning "Find weakness" zombies

 

and if you don't like "only vs. Zombies" have it be selective

I think the Personal Immunity/"Only vs. Zombies," combination works better unless you buy a lot of CSLs for the Selective attack roll, though that could work.

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Nope. Anyone entering a Continuous Area of Effect Power is immediately affected by it (as well as then being affected in the owner's Phases). A Damage Shield doesn't affect a target until they actually attack the owner (or Force Wall if they are Linked). I don't think he wants them getting that close' date=' or being able to break down a FW to leave them defenseless. BTW, the zombies would have to have an [i']enourmous[/i] amount of KB Resistance, Str, and/or Movement to get through my damage field, as the average KB generated to a standing target will be about 45".

 

EDIT: On second thought, drop Double Knockback unless you reduce the number of dice; an average of 18" is more than enough and won't cause nearly so much collateral damage.

 

 

I think the Personal Immunity/"Only vs. Zombies," combination works better unless you buy a lot of CSLs for the Selective attack roll, though that could work.

Except, the point of this power is the zombie disintegrate, not flung all across the neighborhood partially damaged.

 

No knockback. The FW is still needed to prevent under any circumstances (barring the FW being brought down) the zombies physically touching the caster (the size of the FW is such that exterior edge of the characters bordering hexes will be the border, fully enveloping the character above and below).

 

TB

[pinecone]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Yeah you'd need 10 PD for those pesky "Haymaker Zombies" and maybe 12 PD if they can push...personally I'd not let Zombies push, but why take chances? Then put a Damage sheild on the force wall and Zap away...if they can have armor then a 40 shot PEN auto fire does an average of 40 body, or a honking big KA, I'd guess that a small PEN auto fire is cheaper than a 12D6 KA.....add in the "Transparent to ED mod to the FW and you're home....its likely Lots cheaper is you don't go for an autokill, but just settle for kills most right away and the rest real soon........

[Teflon Billy]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Transparent to ED is already in there. I'm surprised people aren't seeing it.

 

I'm ok with the current build if it means it might take 2-3 attacks/segments of contact for the zombie to fully be disintegrated (by the campaign using hit locations).

 

Can any of you think of a situation of where a zombie would be able to get through this?

 

It's been mentioned that massed attacks won't work.

 

Physical objects won't be effect it (so no zombie driven fire trucks to bust the wall, the character would be run over, but the zombie would still disintegrate when they passed the threshhold of the ward).

 

Are there any rushing/moving attacks that a zombie could do that would pump up there damage high enough to overcome the 30 PD?

 

TB

[prestidigitator]

Re: Help with Zombie Be Gone

 

Except, the point of this power is the zombie disintegrate, not flung all across the neighborhood partially damaged.

 

No knockback. The FW is still needed to prevent under any circumstances (barring the FW being brought down) the zombies physically touching the caster (the size of the FW is such that exterior edge of the characters bordering hexes will be the border, fully enveloping the character above and below).

Cool. "Does Knockdown Instead of Knockback" (value up to GM; may even be an Advantage as some have argued), and increase the radius to 4 hexes. If points aren't an issue, increase the DCs of the attack until they will be destroyed using Standard Effect.