Alive through Force of Will

[Michael Hopcroft]

I'm wondering how one models the particular genre ability, seen in things like John Woo movies and things inspired by John Woo movies, in which a particular hero soaks up enormous amounts of damage, but is able to will himself to keep alive and fighting until he has defeated the one opponent he really desires to destroy. Once he has done that, everything he's absorbed takes full effect, which usually results in him dropping dead on the spot.

 

 

I'm looking at you, Spike Spiegel.

 

[JmOz]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

+ xx body, only to stay alive until task is done -1.5

[Manic Typist]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

HE'S NOT DEAD. He exists in a state of uncertainty!!!

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

I'm wondering how one models the particular genre ability' date=' seen in things like John Woo movies and things inspired by John Woo movies, in which a particular hero soaks up enormous amounts of damage, but is able to will himself to keep alive and fighting until he has defeated the one opponent he really desires to destroy. Once he has done that, everything he's absorbed takes full effect, which usually results in him dropping dead on the spot.[/quote']

 

I would model this as an Succor (not Healing) to BODY, Only to Starting Values, Self Only. The character spends END (and eventually STUN) to keep himself alive until he accomplishes his task. Then the Succor wears off, the restored BODY fades, and the character dies.

[Sociotard]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

I agree with the Succor proposal

[Manic Typist]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

Whoa. Smooth!

[Alibear]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

10 Extra body. 1c lasting 1 minute, requires ego roll.

[BNakagawa]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

Drama Absorbption to BODY.

[Klaus Mogensen]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

Aid BODY, triggered by getting below 0 BODY.

 

- Klaus

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

10 Extra body. 1c lasting 1 minute' date=' requires ego roll.[/quote']This inspired an alternative idea that just popped into my head...

 

What if you made it a house rule that you have an amount of "extra" BODY pips equal to your EGO, which can kick in when there's a dramatically appropriate situation and when the character has lost all their normal BODY. (GM or group consensus call on whether the current situation is "dramatically appropriate.")

 

The catch?

 

For each point of this "extra" BODY lost in this manner, you permanently lose one point of your real BODY. So you might be able to will yourself to carry on to a certain point, at a cost of never being quite the same again. And of course, if you spent enough of the extra EGO-based BODY that losing it would cause your real BODY count to permanently drop below 0, you'd die at the end of scene...

[Hyper-Man]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

I like the concept but the permanency of the effect is questionable in a game where future xp can be spent to increase BODY.

 

It basically amounts to a way of spending future/unspent xp as a form of Luck.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

Lots of good ideas here. I quite like the 'succor' suggestion myself, although you might need IPE on that. That's the beauty of Hero - plenty of choice

 

For even more choice, how about something like this:

 

Unstoppable: +5 pd+5 ed armour 15 points active, 7 real

Limitation: any damage stopped by this power is applied when specified opponent defeated (-1)

 

That would allow the character to ignore potentially massive amounts of damage - but there will be a reckoning. It requires a bit more book keeping - you need to record the damage stopped by the power - but that is not difficult. As written it helps to keep them conscious until they have completed their task, not just alive. There are a number of attacks it obviously will not work against, but it should generally be very effective.

[Markdoc]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

One off the wall possibility that I have used in my game was the automaton power. I allowed a Berserker PC to buy it for his berserk rage. Before starting it he had to define a specific condition "kill the big boss" to end his rage (alternatively, he'd run out of steam after 5 minutes), and once he had started it, he became an automaton - incapable of making making rational decisions. However, he'd take no STUN, use no END, was immune to social influence or mental attacks - and not try to avoid attacks, so his defences were cut by 2/3rds. He also had a large pool of extra BOD "Only to calculate point of death".

 

When Berserk, the character was extremely hard to stop, and he would mindlessly pursue whatever his goal was, unless literally hacked limb from limb. He was a threat to friend and foe. He also ended most fights keeling over with massive wounds and would certainly have expired early in his career if the team healer hadn't been around.

 

Less extreme, I had a PC with the talent "True Grit" - 50% physical damage reduction, Stun Only, requires an EGO roll, plus 5 PD armor, requires an EGO roll. That PC simply made an Ego roll when attacked and if successful he took a wound - blood flew, etc - but he reduced the damage by 5 and halved any remaining STUN. He was also remarkably hard to stop - and at 20 points, while an expensive talent, it was well worthwhile. He could take dozens of "wounds" in a fight and stagger out the other side, beaten and battered, often in negative body, but still on his feet.

 

cheers, Mark

[Sean Waters]

Re: Alive through Force of Will

 

Something we noted early on in our Champions careers was that, generally, you passed out before you died. It was not uncommon to end a fight with the characters in need of urgent medical attention to stop them bleeding to death if you built a character who was good at avoiding stun. A starting character can take 20 Body before death. Assuming that they have relatively minor 3pd/3ed (combat luck) defences, and assuming the average KA is 2d6, which is reasonably high, that is 5 hits on average before they expire. If they go up to 5/5 (light BPV) then the average number of hits goes up to 10.

 

That's pretty impressive: most pistol or smg gunshot wounds are nowhere near 2d6.

 

The problem is that you will be unconscious long before the wounds kill you, which is why Marcdoc's suggestion of stun only damage reduction is a good one - it keeps you on your feet, and you still have to deal with all those injuries - which might include bleeding and such, if you use the rule.