Disad help needed!

[RevHooligan]

I have a player working on a new character with a weird disadvantage. The PC has gaps in his memories that include his origin. He was Shanghied and awoke floating on jetsom in the South China Sea with a new cybernetic arm. He has boosted reflexes and healing. Think Wolverine with out the cutlery or attitude.

 

The disad is this: whomever upgraded our hero also installed a subroutine in his brain that compels him to comit assassinations and other crimes in his sleep. The PC has no knowlege of his crimes and since he's bought down his sleep requirements with LS, it doesn't happen often. The mystery villian may also be monitoring the PC through his own senses...

 

How the heck do we build that?

[RadeFox]

Mystery Disad- I'd say it sounds like a 15pt one, if he only sleeps 8 hours a week, or less.

 

How often the subroutine hits, is the key to this one, though. A simple caveat by not trying to force it into a structured disad sounds best in this case, especially since you as the GM aren't sure how much control the villians have over him or his senses.

 

This way you can use it however you wish in game, as long as its made worth the points gained, and adds to the fun of the group.

[Supreme Serpent]

And don't forget to take over when he gets knocked out...

[Hugh Neilson]

hmmm...I'd say build it like a Hunted. How often will it impact an adventure? How powerful is the guy with the control? With the Mind Control device, I'd say More powerful than the hero, and I'd likely shoehorn NCI on the basis they can manipulate him to give him a lot of grief from other NCI sources.

 

At some point in time, you'll likely want to run a resolution scenario, as it's not really a disadvantage at all of these assassinations don't eventually get traced back to Our Hero, and at that point the character would rightly want to resolve this (or he locks himself in a vault whenever he sleeps - but that doesn't resolve the KO issue noted by a prior poster, which is a very good catch).

 

Assuming he resolves it, he's now Hunted by the former controllers. Maybe he has to buy down the disad, or maybe the Hunted value stays the same, but they make more frequent efforts to recover "their" tech.

 

As for the spotty memory, I'd put in a psych lim about trying to track down the details of his past. How often will it have an impact, and how strong is his desire to learn about his past would set the points.

[Mr. Negative]

Re: Disad help needed!

 

Originally posted by RevHooligan

The disad is this: whomever upgraded our hero also installed a subroutine in his brain that compels him to comit assassinations and other crimes in his sleep. The PC has no knowlege of his crimes and since he's bought down his sleep requirements with LS, it doesn't happen often. The mystery villian may also be monitoring the PC through his own senses...

 

How the heck do we build that?

 

Well, IF the mystery villian is monitoring the PC through his own senses:

 

Hunted (Watched, Easy to Find)

 

This gives a base of 0 point, assuming the mystery villian is less powerful than the PC and only watches on an 8-. It will be worth more if the villain is more powerful, or more vigilant.

 

Assuming that the hero always becomes an assassin when he goes to sleep:

 

Accidental Change (from Hero to Assassin, Uncommon Circumstances, Always Occurs). 20 points

 

You need to rewrite the character (in his "killer" form only) so that his other psychological/behavioral limitations are changed so that he CAN be a killer (drop Code against Killing, etc.) and has new limitations that get him to commit crimes (say, Psychological Limitation: Slavishly Loyal to Mystery Villian (very common, total). You may also want to add a mind link to the mystery villian who gives him instructions. This would also be an ideal opportunity for the character to have additional, assassin type skills in his "killer" persona.

 

And, so that he has no memory of these events (or of the gaps in his past):

 

Physical Limitation: Cannot remember parts of his past, nor actions committed while under the control of the mystery villian (infrequent, greatly impairing) 10 points.

 

Note that this is a physical limitation and not a psychological one, as the character cannot make an ego roll to overcome his impairment. I used infrequent as I assumed that these holes in his memory were not too common. I used Greatly impairing over Fully Impairing in an assumption that the memory holes were not critical, frequently used pieces of his memory, and that he could reconstruct what his "alter-ego" had done from physical clues (his clothing, his phsyical condition, credit card records, etc.)

 

Also, you would probably want a Social Limitation as it would be really bad if people found out that the hero was a killer (even though he doesn't know about it). Thus, he might "blow his cover" the first time it came up, as he doesn't know to keep his "cover" (this is part of the Physical Limitation above):

 

Social Limitation: Secret Identity as Killer (occasionally 8-, major risks of imprisonment). 10 points

 

I am assuming only a minor risk of this coming out, as I assume the "killer" identity is a steathly assassin rather than a psychotic killer.

 

So, that's 40 points, plus any extra from a more powerful villain, or one who watches the hero more often. This is worth considerably more than other people have suggested, but really, how disadvantageous WOULD it be to become a killer during your sleep, have no memory of it (or your past) AND have someone monitoring your every move?

 

Nicely enough, they all come from different disadvantage categories, so the Hero can still have other psych lims, or hunteds, or whatever. For example, if the police are looking for the "killer", then the hero might also be hunted by the police (although I myself would wait until his "secret identity" was uncovered, and then change it to a Hunted by the Police disadvantage.

 

Another advantage of the piecemeal approach is that you can resolve each disadvantage separately:

 

First the character is "fingered" as the killer (losing his secret identity, and becoming Hunted by the police, perhaps, or gaining a bad Reputation).

 

Then, perhaps he could uncover his memories, both of his past, and of his actions as the killer (without being able to stop the killer from killing). Much pathos ensues.

 

Then, perhaps he could learn to control the "killer", getting an activation roll on his Accidental Change, or buying it off entirely.

 

All the while, unbeknownst to him, his mystery villian is monitoring his progress....

[RevHooligan]

Re: Re: Disad help needed!

 

Thaks everyone. I'm going with Mr. Negative's suggestions in part. I like the ability to buy off pieces of the disad as plot moves forward.

 

This disad will play a major part in the campaign and will unavoidably cause much grief to the PC, so I feel comfortable with the point totals.

 

Also, I haven't played with this guy in five years and any willing to cut him slack to get him and his interesting PC onboard.

 

Thanks again, Heros!