Half-Golem?

[Drell]

Hey there folks - I would love some feedback and/or ideas on this:

 

One of the PC's in an fantasy hero campaign I'm going to be running soon is eventually going to be horribly injured, and is going to lose most of his limbs. The thing is, he's a caster-type, is into crafting golems as a personal specialty, and I was planning on having his destroyed limbs replaced with the golem's pieces-parts.

 

Now, as far as building this I'm not entirely positive on how to go about it. I was thinking it could be an amount of increased STR, then giving him the automaton power "Takes No Stun" & "Does Not Bleed", but applying a few limitations on them to where it only affects certain areas of the Hit Location Table (the arms, hands, legs, feet), and lastly giving him an amount of armor that only affects those same areas of the Hit Location Table as well. I don't know that the Takes No Stun would work though, as it eliminates the Stun statistic altogether, but I can't think of another way for it to work, where there's just absolutely no way to hurt him Stun-wise through his weird limbs. Plus, it would also make the limbs work on the automaton damage chart as well, losing STR the more they're damaged, breaking down, etc. (which is kinda what I'm going for).

 

Initially I'd thought about the prosthetic limbs being Foci, but then thought a little further on it and realized that it would be just as hard to remove these prosthetics as it would be to remove the actual limb.

 

But yeah, just wondering if anyone has some other ideas on this, or improvements to what I listed above. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks folks!

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

A Classic/Full Metal Alchemist Combine

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66088&highlight=Fullmetal+Alchemist

 

Full Metal Alchemist

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36605&highlight=Fullmetal+Alchemist

 

Full Metal Alchemist

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11684&highlight=Fullmetal+Alchemist

 

Go-Limbs

???

 

Other Resources:

Golden Age Resources

http://www.herogames.com/forums/show...28#post1536828

 

Regency Hero Resources

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27221

 

Victorian Hero Resources

http://herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30759

 

Western Hero Resources

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55990

 

 

Steampunk is good, Clockworkpunk is better, & Spellpunk just rocks.

 

 

QM

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

http://www.killershrike.com/MetaCyber/MetaCyberCharacters_BodyTech_Cybernetics.aspx

[Beast]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

I would just go and ruin his whole body and stick his soul(maybe what is left of his body sealed up) in a golem and let him have an automaton body

and not have to worry about how to play each body part

I would still have him have stun and can be dazed(part of his humanity)but he cannot bleed out

 

of course normal healing would not work on him

def will cost triple

[Curufea]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

There's a few mentions of biothaumaturgy in the Perdido Street Station books that may be of interest as well - which is the magical grafting of animal or mechanical parts on to people. Usually as a punishment for a crime.

[Drell]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

http://www.killershrike.com/MetaCyber/MetaCyberCharacters_BodyTech_Cybernetics.aspx

 

Good grief...

 

Your site never ceases to amaze me.

 

If you don't mind me asking - how many hours (roughly) do you have put into all the stuff on your site? My estimation is staggering...

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

While this is a cool concept which, frankly, has never occurred to me before , in game-mechanic terms it's just the fantasy equivalent of a sci-fi cyborg. From what you describe, the character isn't a full golem, he just has artificial limbs grafted onto his fleshly body. If that's the case, he'll still take Stun if he's hit on any other part of his body, and arguably, if a large enough shock hits his limbs to "rattle" the rest of him.

 

If it were up to me, I would give the character more Strength, Movement, and whatever other Powers you visualize from the limbs; but rather than buying Automaton Powers for him, just buy more Defenses that only cover his limbs, enough so that no Stun damage gets through from smaller impacts.

 

For the "breakdown" part of the effect, you could either buy the limbs as Foci if they could somehow be removed, so that they lose Powers when their Defense is exceeded; or make this a Physical Limitation for the character.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

....how do you know he´s going to be horribly mangled and lose his limbs.....?

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

....how do you know he´s going to be horribly mangled and lose his limbs.....?

 

Good question.

 

As for the mechanics of the thing. Technically damage to the golem limbs shouldn't hurt the host body at all, not even to do Body damage. So I'd build the limbs as Duplication, (cannot recombine), like the heads of the Hydra in the Hero System Bestiary and give those Duplicates Golem abilities such as Cannot Be Stunned, Does Not Bleed etc. This could get pricy mind you.

[phookz]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

Good question.

 

As for the mechanics of the thing. Technically damage to the golem limbs shouldn't hurt the host body at all, not even to do Body damage. So I'd build the limbs as Duplication, (cannot recombine), like the heads of the Hydra in the Hero System Bestiary and give those Duplicates Golem abilities such as Cannot Be Stunned, Does Not Bleed etc. This could get pricy mind you.

 

I'd avoid that mechanic, as it gets complicated quickly. The duplication rules allow the Hydra to have multiple attacks that are independent - each head has it's own SPD and moves in it's own Phases - I don't think that's what you're after when you have a mechanical arm or leg, and if it is I suspect you're going to have complicated play sessions.

 

If it were me as GM, I would probably rule that damage to the golem part still imparts shock to the physical body, but would more defenses with limitations. Maybe look at Damage Reduction with limitations. Another approach would be to purchase the limbs as OIF - this separates the damage they take from the damage the player takes.

 

Killer Shrike has some good information (doesn't he always ) on doing this for Cybernetics, which is really the same mechanically, just a different SFX.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

Taking a cue from my brief gander of Shrike´s AMAZING MetaCyber site (I now REALLY want to run in a game like that. REALLY BADLY. Face to face is best, but I´d be down for HeroCentral....)

 

Buy a bunch of limitations (Physical Lim: No limbs) that are compensated for by powers via Foci that model the lims.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

Good grief...

 

Your site never ceases to amaze me.

 

If you don't mind me asking - how many hours (roughly) do you have put into all the stuff on your site? My estimation is staggering...

 

In a typical month I probably spend about 5 hours or so spread out tinkering or adding minor things. However, when I'm on a roll, I'll churn out a lot of material and focus my efforts on it; the hour count in a high-content month is probably more like 30 or 40 hours.

 

The main thing is, the sites been up for about 6 years now in its current version, and some of the material is carryover from earlier versions (this is the third site I've put up for hobby stuff since 1995). It accumulated over time to its current state.

 

The sad thing is, I've got...maybe three times as much HERO stuff on paper from over the years that I've never typed up. There's a lot of overhead involved in getting a new section of content added, such that I generally don't bother. I've got boxes full of paper files moldering in the closet

[Drell]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

....how do you know he´s going to be horribly mangled and lose his limbs.....?

 

Well, long story short - the game I'm about to be running is taking place in an era of my world that would be inbetween two other games I've run before. I already have planned more or less what and who I want the PC's to be like / turn into by the end of the game (which is always fun to get Players to play their characters into the situations I've built that will put them in these places - it's tricky, but they have a blast as long as they think it was all their own choices ). In other words, I have to work extra hard to make sure certain things go certain ways, because I've already run games that take place later, and in those games this one would be ancient history. So while many details are lost (like what characters looked like, what they actually were like vs. what myth has built them up to be, etc.) there are certain events that occur, and things that happen that are...well - in those future games - historical fact, and I have to subtly push & pull everything so that it all fits together.

 

In this particular character's case - my friend wanted to play an Artificer-type character, making scads of different magical items and using them like a gadgeteer and getting his magical effects in that way rather than casting, and he also wanted to be a golem crafter (you know, so he could have a big brick to hide behind while throwing bolts from wands & the like). That's all fine and good, however, I'm needing him to--eventually--have a big loss of humanity, and also at the same time present him with a moment of loss & downfall (which he will then either have to pick himself up from, or give in to the loss). This would be where he gets horribly mangled.

 

Now, the way golems & constructs in general work in my world, in order to be animate it requires an amount of life-essence, spirit, a shred of soul, whatever you'd like to call it. So, when he gets all bashed up and maimed, he's going to be so far gone & comatose that (for story purposes) he's going to find his consciousness within the golem, looking down on his own muffed-up body. Knowing that once his body dies the golem dies, he'll be able to use all this knowledge he's gained previous that he had no particular use for in order to operate on his own body & hopefully save his own life.

 

He'll just have some problems from then on he'll have to work on - like no fine manipulation (which sucks if you're an Artificer), loss of humanity, etc.

 

It's just one in a long series of terrible things I have planned for him.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

I´d play in your games! If you can pull it off, that sounds like a blast.

[phookz]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

It does sound pretty cool. Pulling it off requires some finesse and players that are willing to play in that kind of game. A lot of people would feel like they are being railroaded, and some don't like that. I would love a game like that if it was done right - destiny is tough to do in roleplaying games.

[Drell]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

It does sound pretty cool. Pulling it off requires some finesse and players that are willing to play in that kind of game. A lot of people would feel like they are being railroaded' date=' and some don't like that. I would love a game like that if it was done right - destiny is tough to do in roleplaying games.[/quote']

 

Yeah, that's really the key - making sure they don't feel railroaded. The trick is to find a way to effectively make the things you want be the things they want. I've done it before without a whole lot of difficulty, and everyone had a blast, but this time around there are two players I haven't GM'd before, so we'll see.

[Drell]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

In a typical month I probably spend about 5 hours or so spread out tinkering or adding minor things. However, when I'm on a roll, I'll churn out a lot of material and focus my efforts on it; the hour count in a high-content month is probably more like 30 or 40 hours.

 

The main thing is, the sites been up for about 6 years now in its current version, and some of the material is carryover from earlier versions (this is the third site I've put up for hobby stuff since 1995). It accumulated over time to its current state.

 

The sad thing is, I've got...maybe three times as much HERO stuff on paper from over the years that I've never typed up. There's a lot of overhead involved in getting a new section of content added, such that I generally don't bother. I've got boxes full of paper files moldering in the closet

 

Well, I've been playing hero system for 16 years, and while I'm still no expert, it's awesome to find someone with an incredible grasp on all parts of the system--and you put it out there for others to use to boot!

 

Very cool to find answers to those strange, obscure questions.

[Lucius]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

Stee Vosten, artificer. A man barely alive.

 

We can rebuild him.

 

We have the thaumaturgy.

 

We can make him better than he was.

 

Better. Faster. Stronger.

 

Stee Vosten is.....the Six Million Gold Piece Man

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

[Drell]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

Stee Vosten, artificer. A man barely alive.

 

We can rebuild him.

 

We have the thaumaturgy.

 

We can make him better than he was.

 

Better. Faster. Stronger.

 

Stee Vosten is.....the Six Million Gold Piece Man

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

 

Oh jeez...that was so bad. lol

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Half-Golem?

 

I don't know that the Takes No Stun would work though' date=' as it eliminates the Stun statistic altogether, but I can't think of another way for it to work, where there's just absolutely no way to hurt him Stun-wise through his weird limbs.[/quote']

How 'bout just extra defenses (Armor) limited with "STUN Only" and "Only for Arms/Legs/Hands/Feet"? Damage Reduction would work, too. Or some combination of both. Those two limitations are probably about -1/2 each.

 

Plus, it would also make the limbs work on the automaton damage chart as well, losing STR the more they're damaged, breaking down, etc. (which is kinda what I'm going for).

You could do this with a Susceptibility (or two) - 1d6 STR Drain when he takes BODY on the Arms or Legs. Or 1d6 Running Drain when he takes BODY on the Legs. Or whatever you feel is appropriate. Or buy down the return rate for a higher Active Point Susceptibility.