BobGreenwade Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 According to Wikipedia's description from the Avesta, when Feraydun defeated the demon-king Zahhak (aka Dahāg)... ...vermin (snakes' date=' insects and the like) emerged from the wounds, and the god Ormazd told him not to kill Dahāg, lest the world become infested with these creatures. Instead, Frēdōn chained Dahāg up and imprisoned him on the mythical Mt. Damāvand (later identified with Damāvand, one of the high mountains of the Alborz chain).[/quote']I'm personally inclined to just call this bleeding of vermin just a Special Effect with no real game effect, but I'm wondering if anyone here would have an alternate idea, such as Summon, Change Environment, or a Distinctive Feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I think I'd look real hard at a Summon, sounds like it's continues as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTaylor Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin A change environment is probably your best bet: some kind of running reduction and perhaps a reduction to presence rolls. You could build it as a continuous, gigantic max summon, but if they are ordinary vermin they probably won't have much combat effect so it seems pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin A change environment is probably your best bet: some kind of running reduction and perhaps a reduction to presence rolls. You could build it as a continuous' date=' gigantic max summon, but if they are ordinary vermin they probably won't have much combat effect so it seems pointless.[/quote'] Yeah, though I was thinking you'd summon Swarms of vermin, you know so you can flood the world....AE Swarms...Mmmm...now thats some good Evil..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split Decision Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Definitely a PRE attack of some great size, Trigger. Imagine the revulsion even the most stalwart among your heroes would feel if his attack released thousands of squirming beasts, pouring forth, getting in their costumes, biting at their fingertips, spitting on their faces, wriggling around their necks and legs... totally horrific Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTaylor Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Yeah last time I saw a politician cut his finger on a bill he didn't bother reading that happened, it was awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhoof Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Absorbtion -> Summon/Change Environment? The more he gets hit, the more vermin come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I would say it really depends on how useful to the character you see this as being. Just flavor without in-game impact? Pure Special Effect. Can be used to indentify the character if/when he's in disguise? Distinctive Features. Can be used by the character to intimidate his opponents? Presence Attack bonus. Minor combat effects (e.g. distracts or impedes opponents)? Change Environment. "Vermin" can be controlled by the character for specific purposes, e.g. biting or seizing an opponent? Specific Powers with that SFX. Creates independent living creatures with full stats of same? Summon. Creatures can also impede/harm the bleeding character? Side Effects or Uncontrolled. If using Powers, Trigger would be an appropriate Advantage to add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Absorbtion -> Summon/Change Environment? The more he gets hit' date=' the more vermin come out.[/quote'] I was thinking a triggered summoms, but I like the absorbtion idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNakagawa Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Does that include internal bleeding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin The black blood seethed and swarmed with insects and vermin and, as it seeped into the earth , the earth itself swarmed ad seethed and crept across every living thing, biting and scratching, infecting all with the stench of corruption... The End Of The World As We Know It: 34 Active, 19 Real Energy Blast 0 1/2d6, Trigger (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger requires a Turn or more to reset; Body damage to Dahhag; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), No Normal Defense (LS: Disease; +1), Does BODY (+1), Continuous (+1), Area Of Effect (4194304" Radius; +6 1/4) (34 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (AoE proportional to the Body damage Dahhag has taken; -1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Only does Body once the target is rendered unconscious from the damage caused by this power; -1/4) So, that should cover the Earth if Dahhag is killed, or most of it, and though it lasts but a while, should be enough to sicken and possibly kill much of the population of the planet, human, animal and plant. Heroes may well survive, but for how long, in a world devoid of life? I built the same thing with CE but it was MUCH more expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Impudite Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I second McCoy on the Triggered Summons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbywolfe Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Sean...that's scary... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I would use something like my "Never-Ending Summon" special. It's designed to be generator that, one started, spews creatures until it is somehow stopped (as per Independent rules). Although my original design was to flood a planet with "smurf-like" creatures, it can be easily modified for bleeding vermin, swarms of insects and snakes (limited group, +1/4). The effect uses Gradual Effect to slowly summon lots of creatures over a long period of time. Never-Ending Summon: This spell summons 1,073,741,824 critters. The spell is unfortunately cheaper than one would think, since it will takes 25 years to summon all of them, but still produces roughly 16 1/3 per Turn. Unfortunately the caster had a heart attack and died, but his spell still produces those annoying small blue creatures. Summon 50 point smurf-like critters, 30 doublings (1,073,741,824), 160 Active Points, Independent (-2), Gradual Effect: 25 Years (-3 1/4), Extreme Side Effect always occurs (-2), 1 Charge that takes a Year to Recover (-3), Takes a month of research before casting (-5) 9 Real Points Of course, you could summon a bunch of "creatures" (the spewing remains of the demon scatter to the ends of the earth) that has this summon and they travels the world, so the summon creatures don't have to slither or fly around the world on their own power. Man, I need to crosspost this to Power Game, this is horribly nasty for the points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utech Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin The question is this: Was Ormazd correct? If so, Dahāg gains quite a benefit from bleeding vermin -- something like the benefit the aliens (from Alien) gain from having acid for blood. Namely, you don't dare kill him. Or, perhaps, even hurt him much. That's got to be worth some points, right? If Dahāg makes moot a great number of the possible ways to defeat him, he ought to pay for that. How much he pays depends a lot on your campaign and how quickly those vermin can overrun the planet. (If you've got plenty of main characters running around with the ability to both hurt Dahāg and remove all the vermin, Dahāg doesn't have to pay much for his ability.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I once stopped everything on the planet dying unless it was in London (where everything was dead - long story), or being born unless it was in Ethiopia. Things got very weird there for a while. Things that should have died kept trying to get to London. That was weird. Whales. Sheesh. Beef cows. Brrr.... Eventually it was discovered that things could die if they were near a stone from London, or be born if they were near a tree from Ethiopia. Hmm, and an earth elemental, possibly THE earth elemental, became London, spread, and sank the whole country (although it wasn't actually me who did that, it was Jagged). Things got even weirder then. I didnt build it, I just, you know, did it. I might have been able to build it but then we were only ever going to use it as a story seed. It wasn't a problem to be solved as such, or an effect to be neutralised. It was, well, it was all the Gods in the multiverse shunning us because the Heroes embarassed them. Oh and they tried to put one over on us by sealing off our entire dimension with the one thing that could kill them in here with us. Only this drunk guy killed it. Then all the other dimensions got sort of screwed up because, well, this one was acting like a dam in the universal flow of energy. Or something. Anyway, the point is I didn't build it. I just did it. You can build it. I just didn't. It would have been interesting to build it, but I didn't. Hmm. Anyway. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I've been playing this game too long, haven't I? I'm thinking that what we need to do is lock Dahag into a sealed room and just let him suffocate to death. Oh yeah, Sean. You just sit there and we'll send the men in white coats around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split Decision Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Sean, you are so terribly English. In the good and interesting way. Nobody from any other country could have possibly come up with such a story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Wasn't there an obscure Roman God with a similar condition, but in his case it was seed and not blood? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary nominates Lucius for "God of Obscurity" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Sean' date=' you are so terribly English. In the good and interesting way. Nobody from any other country could have possibly come up with such a story.[/quote'] We certainly have some interesting games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin I've been playing this game too long' date=' haven't I? I'm thinking that what we need to do is lock Dahag into a sealed room and just let him suffocate to death.[/quote']That's roughly what Feraydun (Frēdōn) ended up doing, except Zahhak doesn't die so easily. According to the legend, the snakes on the demon-king's shoulders eat his brain every night, but it just grows back for them to eat the next night. (Talk about being your own worst enemy. I'd think that after sixteen millennia of that, Zahhak would be pretty traumatized by now.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Re: When he bleeds, he bleeds vermin Wasn't there an obscure Roman God with a similar condition, but in his case it was seed and not blood? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary nominates Lucius for "God of Obscurity" For that matter, isn't mythology full of creatures like the Pegasus that sprang from the spilled blood of Gods, Titans, or monsters? Lucius Alexander No blood was spilled in the creation of the palindromedary. That I know of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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