Ben Smith, Undead Zombie

[bigmack83]

Ben Smith, Undead Zombie

Power Source: Evil spirit resident in his body

Campaign: 400 Base/75 Disad, 24 EXP. No AP limits as long as power is reasonable compared to character

 

Character was converted from a system called Deadlands to 5ER

 

World:

The current world as an alternate earth storyline changing during the end of the civil war when gates to another time was opened and during the conflict a portal to a place called the hunting grounds was opened and closed at the end of the conflict. These spirits were evil and lived in a place where only the strongest survived. During the time the portal was open they came to earth and possessed the bodies of those who died in battle. And because the spirits ware already evil, badass, and had various EGO issues they would only possess those who had a strong spirit (they posessed the body as it died so they could judge the strength of the person). This is one of the creatures that posessed this character.

 

History:

PC was alive and fought in the american civil war as a Northern Union Soldier. Ben server a highly successful career and was tantamount in helping create specialty teams which would later be called covert ops. As a orphan child ben was a natural at stealth to survive in his environment. He joined the Union at the age of 17.

During a mission to take control of a southern supply depot in a cavern near the beach. He served as the teams leader and Captain of 11 other team members. When the team got to the encampment and started attacking the enemy they had realized they had been discovered and the entrance to the cave was blown shut with demolitions. The team died of starvation.

Shortly after the bodies rose being posessed by the spirit but had no way to exit the cavern. These spirits are unable to leave the body after they posess it so they were also trapped. The spirits went into hibernation. Some time later the soldiers woke up though the spirits were still in hibernation. The individuals were able to use the powers of the spirit but still could not escape. they once again hibernated.

In 2094 another war broke out and the soldiers again rose, sprits willing to let the soldiers control the body to let them try and get out. during this time the spirit controlling Ben Smith found he could move through the earth and escape the cavern. He swore to his allies that he would return and save them. after escaping the spirit and Ben had a long battle of EGO's to take control of the body. In the end Ben Smith won the battle and has been in control ever since (in game terms the sprit also has an ego which was randomly determined in the deadlands system which translated to a 11 in HERO, where my PC has an EGO of 20).

By the year 2098 (current time game starts) he has roamed many places around the mid california area to sacramento. Some of his skills were diminished or lost due to times when he just couldnt remember weeks at a time since he woke up or just didnt know he had the skill to begin with. This is where the character started.

 

This is the character I have built. I am posting this to hear what others have to say about the build (ive never built anything like an undead zombie before) and to get suggestions/reccomendations for the PC. Also as reference, the spirits in deadlands are called Manitous so you know what i mean when you read it below.

 

 

Ben Smith

 

Player: Shawn

 

Val Char Cost

15 STR 5

20 DEX 30

15 CON 10

20 BODY 20

13 INT 3

20 EGO 20

24 PRE 14

7 COM -1

 

3 PD 0

3 ED 0

5 SPD 20

6 REC 0

30 END 0

36 STUN 0

 

12" RUN 12

2" SWIM 0

3" LEAP 0

Characteristics Cost: 133

 

Cost Power

 

Undead Perception, all slots OIF (Manitou; -1/2)

(Power List)

3 1) Undead Perception: +4 PER with all Sense Groups (12 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses almost all of its effectiveness (When on holy ground; -2)

3 2) Cat Eyes: Infrared Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points)

4 3) Cat Eyes: Nightvision, Inherent (+1/4) (6 Active Points)

 

Body of the Undead, all slots OIF (; manitou; -1/2)

(Power List)

26 1) Immortal: Life Support (Eating: Character only has to eat once per week; Immunity All terrestrial poisons and chemical warfare agents; Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Longevity: Immortal; Safe in High Radiation; Self-Contained Breathing; Sleeping: Character only has to sleep 8 hours per week) (39 Active Points)

25 2) Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Inherent (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about two-thirds of its effectiveness (on Holy Ground; -1 1/2)

25 3) Mental Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Inherent (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about two-thirds of its effectiveness (on Holy Ground; -1 1/2)

25 4) Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Inherent (+1/4) (75 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about two-thirds of its effectiveness (on Holy Ground; -1 1/2)

 

45 Powers of the Dead: Multipower, 159-point reserve, (159 Active Points); all slots Limited Power Power loses almost all of its effectiveness (When on holy ground; -2), OIF (Focus: Manitou; -1/2)

2u 1) Burrow: Desolidification , Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (90 Active Points); Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2), Only When In Contact With The Ground (natural earth, stone, and soil only; -1/2)

8m 2) Dark Shield: FF (20 PD/20 ED/20 Mental Defense/20 Power Defense/10 Flash Defense: Sight Group/10 Flash Defense: Hearing Group) (Protect Carried Items), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (137 Active Points)

2u 3) Regeneration BODY 6d6 (standard effect: 18 points), Can Heal Limbs, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (130 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), -1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2)

3u 4) Shadow Meld: Invisibility to Sight, Hearing, Mental, Smell/Taste, Touch, Radio and Mystic Groups, Detect, Spatial Awareness, Combat Sense and Danger Sense , No Fringe, Requires A Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll; Stealth; +0), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (111 Active Points)

1u 5) Sonar: Spatial Awareness (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Microscopic: x10, Rapid: x10, Telescopic: +10, Tracking (53 Active Points)

2u 6) Soul Stealer: Drain STUN 6d6, Required Hands One-Handed (+0), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Based On EGO Combat Value (Mental Defense applies; +1) (150 Active Points); ED Applies (-1), Skin Contact Required (-1), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), must target neck (-1/4)

1u 7) Swarm: Summon 120-point creatures, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Slavishly Devoted (+1) (60 Active Points); 1 Recoverable Charge (-1 1/4), Gestures (-1/4)

2u 8) Terror: Drain PRE 2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Cumulative (+1/2), Area Of Effect (64" Radius; +2), Selective (+1/4) (85 Active Points)

4u 9) Wither: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 3d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), No Normal Defense (Defense vs Dark/Evil; +1), Does BODY (+1) (157 Active Points); No STR Bonus (-1/2), No Knockback (-1/4)

2u 10) Mental Illusions 4d6 (Animals class of minds), Difficult To Dispel (x2 Active Points; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Continuous (+1) (82 Active Points); Self Only (-1)

 

Linked Powers, all slots OIF (; manitou; -1/2)

(Power List)

4 1) Detect good/evil 16- (Unusual Group), Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Sense, Telescopic: +3, Tracking (23 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-2), Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (on holy ground; -1), Linked (Sonar; Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value; Greater Power is Constant or in use most or all of the time; -1/2)

6 2) Rapid Aging: Major Transform 1d6, Partial Transform (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses almost all of its effectiveness (vs non aging substances; -2), Limited Power Power loses about half of its effectiveness (Powers do not work on holy ground; -1), Linked (Wither; Lesser Power need not be used proportionally to Power with which it is Linked; -1/4)

9 3) Darkness to Sight Group 1" radius, Selective Target (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (20 Active Points); Linked (Swarm; Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value; -3/4)

Powers Cost: 202

 

 

Cost Skill

15 +5 OCV with manitou powers

10 Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH)

15 +5 with Throwing, H2H Combat, Pistols

3 Acadamia: Occult 12-

5 Acrobatics 14-

0 Acting 8-

3 Combat Driving 13-

3 Criminology 12-

3 Cryptography 12-

3 Fast Draw: Knives 13-

3 KS: Poisons 12-

0 Language: English (basic conversation; literate) (2 Active Points)

11 Navigation (Land, Marine) 16-

5 PS: Northern Soldier 14-

0 Paramedics 8-

5 Power: Undead Powers 14-

3 Riding 13-

5 SS: botany 14-

5 Scrounge 13-

15 Stealth 19-

10 Survival (Marine, Desert, Underground) 14-

2 TF: Equines, Small Military Ships, Small Motorized Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Muscle-Powered Ground Vehicles

3 Tactics 12-

3 WF: Blades, Handguns, Off Hand

Skills Cost: 130

 

 

Cost Talent

3 Bump Of Direction

18 Evasive

10 Follow-Through Attack

Talents Cost: 31

 

Total Character Cost: 496

 

Pts. Disadvantage

15 Aura of Death: with a successful acedamia occult roll can see the manitou inside me (Very Frequently, Minor)

5 Blind Spots: various spots in past cannot be remembered due to manitou (Uncommon, Moderate)

20 Decaying Body: (All the Time, Greatly Impairing)

10 Distinctive Features: Pale Skin: (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

10 Haunted: Nightmares (Common, Moderate)

0 Psychological Limitation: Wants to remove curse and change to a warrior of light (Common, Strong)

0 Psychological Limitation: Tryign to find a way to free fellow soldiers from the cave (Common, Total)

0 Intolerance: Shamans: (Occasionally, Minor)

10 Law of the West: Prefers to keep law and order where possible (Common, Moderate)

5 Needs to eat rotted meat or gravedirt for normal nourishment: (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)

0 Self Reighteous: Believes everything i do has a purpose (Very Common, Strong)

0 Yearnin: Restore USA to former glory: (Very Common, Strong)

0 Quirk: always off by 1 with math

 

Disadvantage Points: 75

Base Points: 400

Experience Required: 21

Total Experience Available: 24

Experience Unspent: 3

[bigmack83]

Re: Ben Smith, Undead Zombie

 

I have built the character this way for different reasons.

 

Defenses:

I build good defenses such as resistances and the FF, but if something gets through he does get hurt. He only has the 3 personal non resistant defense. This is to simulate that its hard to hurt a zombie but once you do something falls off. like an arm. Just in this case he has regeneration to heal. My character is essentially the defense monster in the group, and i tend to be the bait guy. Go figure.

 

I also tried to get takes no stun and does not bleed but i realized i have to build the character an an automaton to do so. This is how the character as a zombie was built in the Deadlands system. i didnt want to mix posts so i did pose the issue here

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72288

 

Powers:

These were just built from hero to resemble the equivalent in Deadlands.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Ben Smith, Undead Zombie

 

Love Deadlands

 

What sort of game is this character playing in? Is the whole Deadlands thing ported over or is the original character just an inspiration for a superhero type?

 

Question on the damage reduction: is it your intention that the damage reduction ONLY works when he is on holy ground?

[bigmack83]

Re: Ben Smith, Undead Zombie

 

We were playing deadlands. Previously we were playing GURPS 4th so players were used to be able to manipulate their powers and in general have more control over them. So we converted them to HERO. The character is built from the book of the dead as a Harrowed. The game is still somewhat of a deadlands like world but is like a mix between that and a champions-esque game. There are a few major metropolitans still standing and the rest of the world are like the slums where all the poorish people live. At a 475 level of character you cant say its not a champions style game on some level.

 

As for the damage reduction (and other powers), they have the reduced effect when on holy ground (as an undead, holy is basically his weakness). The power seems right to me. But i haven't used limited power before so I could be wrong.

 

And as for the other thread when referring to the Stun thing im assuming you are referring to DR and FF right? I setup FF as it is because he cant use it all the time as he doesnt have a lot of END compared to how much END the power takes so its very tiring to use. it also has the SFX of being a new power and is still relatively new to using it and because of the powers SFX it kinda creeps him out (a soul of a fallen spirit coming up to absorb the damage). He may be undead but he is still a good natured guy and likes to try and do good (which aggravates the spirit ). The idea is somewhat inspired by spawn comics. Good guy chosen to do bad but fight back kinda thing.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Ben Smith, Undead Zombie

 

I think you may be treating the power modifiers for 'on holy ground' a bit, well, wrong

 

The power modifier at -1 1/2 if that the powr loses 2/3 of its effectiveness.

 

Not that it loses 2/3 effectiveness in certain situations, so unless holy ground was practically ubiquitous what you have to do is factor in how often it comes up: it probably is not worth more than about -1/4 to -1/2 in fact.

 

Sorry