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". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."


L. Marcus

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"He was . . . he was 'about'. He was about twenty, or about thirty. On Watch reports across the continent he was anywhere between, oh, about six feet two inches and five feet nine inches tall, hair all shades from mid-brown to blond, and his lack of distinguishing features included his entire face. He was about . . . average. What people remembered was the furniture, things like spectacles and moustaches, so he always carried a selection of both. They remembered names and mannerisms, too. He had hundreds of those.

"Oh, and they remembered that they'd been richer before they met him."

 

Moist von Lipwig, the anti-hero of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal and Making Money, has the strange ability of not being recognizable, to the extent that his mother, when he was little, sometimes took the wrong child home from school. This ability has stood Mr Lipwig in good stead as an expert conman, as all he had to do for a disguise was add an easily-removed distinguishing feature, like a pair of spectacles, or a pair of earwigs.

 

How Would You Do This?

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Re: ". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."

 

Here's one way to approach it:

 

54 . . . Just a face in the crowd: Invisibility to Sight Group , No Fringe, Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (67 Active Points); Visible (This represents that the character does not actually turn Invisible. Rather, nothing distinctive about him is visible.; -1/4) - END=0

 

Shapeshift and Images, Self Only could also be twisted to this purpose as well.

 

The other way to approach it is by use of abilities that target others. A lot depends on the sfx of this ability. Is it a physical or mental effect; Does it extend to video recordings of him as well?

 

Here's a mental based invisibility lifted from my character I-Mind that might be suitably modified as well:

 

Mental Invisibility: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, Smell/Taste, Radio, Touch and Mystic Groups and Spatial Awareness , No Fringe, Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Limited Power Only vs. Sentient Targets That Character Is Aware Of (Not vs. Targets with EGO + Mental Defense Greater than 35; -1), Requires A Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4) END=6

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Re: ". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."

 

We've addressed this a couple of ways in the past. One character did it with a really low PRE skill - he just was not memorable - people would tend to ignore him, but he suffered when it came to ebing PRE attacked...

 

Another way, similar to Hyper man's build worked with invisibility to sight and sound (he did not have a distinctive voice either) but bought with IPE, rather than a 'visible' limitation - this simulated the idea that it was not obvious that he was invisible.

 

That does not sound like an advantage but there are all sorts of things that someone who is patently THERE can do that the invisible cannot - like go and talk to someone.

 

Invisibility to Sight and Hearing Groups , No Fringe, IPE: source (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (70 Active Points); IAF (-1/2), Gestures, Requires Gestures throughout (-1/2), Incantations (Requires Incantations throughout; -1/2), Requires A Disguise v Perception/Observation Roll (RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests, Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/2)

 

23 Real 70 Active

 

Quite expensive but quite useful. it only works when he is using props, manerisms and inflections, and requires a skill roll, opposed - it is harder to fool some people than others - but he can operate perfectly normally - he is NOT invisible, just not at all memorable. Even if you are looking at him in the eye you'll give a very generic description if asked.

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Re: ". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."

 

If someone photographs him, is a single image seen every time, or does this cat actually change in appearance? My guess is that this effect is something that happens in an area effect around the targets and in their minds. A type of limited mind control would be the most efficient build imo.

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Re: ". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."

 

The photo would not change (that would require an entirely different and much mroe complex build) but, depending on how the power si put together, even in a photo he would not appear distinctive or necessarily be easy to recognise. Or, if you want to limit it that way to save points, he might :)

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Re: ". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."

 

I'd buy it as simply...

 

8 A face that even a mother would forget. +6 to Disguise, Self Only (-1/2)

 

It sounds like you still need to have a disguise (wigs, mustaches, earwigs, spectacles) but you have an amazing bonus due to having a very forgetable face to begin with. Acting and the extra point of language for mimicing other dialects.

 

Feel free to give him a -3 if all he has to disguise himself is a pair of glasses, and -5 if he doesn't even have that. But, with a +6, he's got a decent chance.

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Re: ". . . Just a face in the crowd, even when it's all alone."

 

I'd buy it as simply...

 

8 A face that even a mother would forget. +6 to Disguise, Self Only (-1/2)

 

It sounds like you still need to have a disguise (wigs, mustaches, earwigs, spectacles) but you have an amazing bonus due to having a very forgetable face to begin with. Acting and the extra point of language for mimicing other dialects.

 

Feel free to give him a -3 if all he has to disguise himself is a pair of glasses, and -5 if he doesn't even have that. But, with a +6, he's got a decent chance.

 

And if it should be easier than that, make it +12 instead of +6.

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