fear-ability

[Legendsmiths]

Re: fear-ability

 

is there a defense to drain, or can i just insidiously drop it...

Power Defense

[swobeas]

Re: fear-ability

 

thanks for the input so far!

 

presence attacks seem the right thing to simulate fear then.

 

So a skeleton (2 1/2 d6 PRE attack) would get +1 d6 (revealing a power: beeing undead ) and +1 d6 (appropriate setting: nasty dungeon) then, which makes 4 1/2 d6 in total.

 

On a average roll this would be a 15 then which would eventually reach the first level of PRE attack effects: Target's PRE or EGO eventually there will be no effect at all.

If there is one, the skeleton will act first on phase 12 and that's it.

 

Seems a little bit to weak in my opinion if characters face the first time in their life a undead beeing...

 

Did I miss anything or do I have to give the skeleton extra PRE (only to invoke fear) to get higher effects ???

[Captain Obvious]

Re: fear-ability

 

Seems a little bit to weak in my opinion if characters face the first time in their life a undead beeing...

 

Did I miss anything or do I have to give the skeleton extra PRE (only to invoke fear) to get higher effects ???

 

You could always boost the "being undead" bonus to the PRE attack. If you only want skeletons to be this scary the first few times you use them, you can identify some of the bonus dice as being a "PCs inexperienced with undead" bonus, and then drop that bonus as time goes on.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: fear-ability

 

Also consider surprise +2d6. I would certainly make being undead worth about 3d6 - it's about 100-150pts worth of powers (life support, no stun, not stunned, extra def, etc.). That is pretty scary.

[Old Man]

Re: fear-ability

 

Also consider surprise +2d6.

 

You could always have the skeleton do something impressive, like rip a massive stone statue out of the ground and hold it overhead. That's +4d6 right there.

 

Oh wait, are we trying to frighten the characters, or the players?

[AveryKess]

Re: fear-ability

 

years ago one guy in my gaming group ran CoC with Hero System. Starting sanity was ego*5 and was rolled on a d100 (for ease of use with the CoC suppliments). While it is possible to start with a 100 (or more) under this system, there are effects that automatically drain sanity, and you really never recover from a mythos event (if you are playing it like CoC), just slowing the trip to the asylum.

[Curufea]

Re: fear-ability

 

I just thought I'd point out to folk that PRE attacks are against EGO or PRE - which is fairly important in a fantasy setting as wizards are likely to have high EGOs.

For that demon idea of a AoE drain (which I'd like) - I'd have it affect both EGO and PRE.

 

Of course, that may also mean it will make wizards less able to cast spells - so you could put in a -1 (only to affect EGO used as a defense against PRE attacks). Which is a weird reverse-limitation thing I haven't seen before. Oh well.

[feight]

Re: fear-ability

 

It occurs to me (all of a sudden) that it would be easy to modify the PRE rules to handle Cthulhu-like SAN loss. If we suppose PRE to be 'STUN' in a PRE attack' date=' then we could count EGO as 'BODY'; then we could simply count up the BODY of a PRE attack in a normal-dice way and apply it to EGO. Then the only question is what happens when you run out of EGO.[/quote']

 

Was just searching the forums for possible past questions relating to a 'fear aura' effect I was looking to create to find suggestions and came across this thread... I really dig your cthulhu suggestion. Perhaps if the character went to 0- ego and survived the encounter it could cause permanent psychological disorders that would need therapy to be rid of, if they could be rid of them.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: fear-ability

 

I think the best way to handle it is to assume the Sanity loss is a Partial Transform. Also, remember that with BODY or EGO, you aren't "dead" until -1xBODY/EGO. So, a Transform requires effect equal to 2xCharacteristic, and every 2/3 of that total represents a lower level Transform. At the first 2/3 mark you suffer a Cosmetic Transform; relative to Sanity it would be some minor (5 pt Disad) or some obvious nervous manifestation (tick, slurred speech, drooling, shaking). At the second 2/3, the character would suffer a Minor Transform (15 pt Disad or so) and actually begin to have functional problems (classic disorder scenario). Finally, at the last 2/3 (for those of you keeping track with the home game that's 6/3 or 2x) you would go totally insane. Once you acquire a disorder, you cannot "heal" it until you have recovered all lost EGO, a process which takes INT/5+PRE/5 (as a Mental Recovery) per Month of no exposure and rest. Hospitalization/institutionalization can accelerate this process.

 

I don't think you really need a 'STUN' mechanic - those effects are handled by the Shock of PRE attack. I would also add that if the person makes a PRE roll at -1 per 2d6 of attack (or per level of the PRE attack result, or something), the EGO loss is only 'temporary' and any disorders acquired as a result of the temporary insanity are shaken off once the character is 'safe' (dawn, hits the bottle, has a peaceful meal, or something).

[SCUBA Hero]

Re: fear-ability

 

Impressive Aura: Drain Ego' date=' Personal Immunity, AE-Radius. (a warrior who's prowess on the field of battle is so impressive that all who see him are in awe of him. This causes PRE attacks to be much easier, both to cause fear in his foes and inspire his comrades)[/quote']Huh. Samurai Cat had this, plus some Area Effect Presence, Usable By Others (allies only).

 

From the first action teaser scene in the first book...

[Fenixcrest]

Re: fear-ability

 

I'm a big fan of ye olde PRE Drain, since a few phases of exposure to such an effect will reduce most characters to a screaming mess in the corner. I used a new type of semi-corporeal undead in a session the other week, the Draed. Its modus operandi was to wrap its cloth-like body around a victim, and then proceed with a multiple power attack of squeeze (20 STR) and Drain PRE 3d6. This was its method of feeding, and doing so restored its BODY.

It was actually really funny at the time, because the party's self-proclaimed "ghost hunter" ended up spending about a minute at below zero PRE, including the time it took to recover the Drained points, just a screaming, gibbering mess being slowly crushed by this cloth thing XD;