Power Question: Skunk Spray

[Mephron]

I'm working on powers in the power pool of a character that just got a Radiation Accident that transformed her from a mutated felinoid to a metamorph. Her core power is to become a humanoid with the powers of any mammal. I've got more than a few done (dolphin, bat, sloth, elephant, big cat, rhino, armadillo), but how to do the spray of the skunk continues to elude me.

 

I know it has to be done as a linked power to do it all. I'm thinking a NND with a linked flash vs. smell and a linked cosmetic transform (person to very smell person, healed by washing in tomato juice). Does this seem to be correct?

 

(Skunks are, I note, missing from the Bestiary for, I bet, just this reason.)

[dugfromthearth]

skunk's spray:

 

flash to sense of smell

area of effect - cone

 

linked to

 

image - horrible smell, usable against others, sticky, area of effect cone, 0 END (so it lasts until washed off, and it is very hard to wash off)

 

the skunk should buy personal immunity to both probably

[Chris Goodwin]

Flash wears off too quickly to be useful for a skunk spray. (Flash wears off too quickly to be useful for a lot of real world effects.)

 

I'd do it something like this:

 

Entangle, 2 DEF, 2d6 BODY, Stops Smell Group. 30 base points. Transparent To All Attacks, Invisible to two Sense Groups (guess what the visible one is). Wears Off after X amount of time (probably minutes to hours).

 

Season to taste.

[Trebuchet]

I'd do it as a Change Environment or possibly as a Mind Control: Leave Area. Skunk smell is nasty, but it's not harmful in any way. A Flash to Smell with an extended recovery time is probably the most realistic. You could require an EGO roll to stick around.

 

They do stink (I know, they're common around El Paso and get run over all the time) but it's not harmful unless you're using Tracking Scent. The odor probably causes carnivores to lose their desire to eat; I certainly wouldn't want to gulp down a burger in a room that smelled like skunk.

[schir1964]

Why not simply Drain vs COM and a Change Environment (Smell Perception) Uncontrolled.

 

- Christopher Mullins

[Bloodstone]

you might want to look at the skunk writeup in the Hero System Bestiary, p172.

 

Basically it uses a Change Environment + Smell/Taste Group Image + NND Energy Blast, all of which are linked, can be used as an attack and have a limited number of charges.

[Greatwyrm]

Keep in mind, in addition to smelling bad, a skunk's spray can temporarily blind an attacker. You may want to think about a sight flash with that.

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally posted by Greatwyrm

Keep in mind, in addition to smelling bad, a skunk's spray can temporarily blind an attacker. You may want to think about a sight flash with that.

 

If by "temporarily" you mean " a few seconds" then yeah, use Flash. (12d6 Flash wears off in, on average, 12 seconds.) If, by "temporarily" you mean within, say, 5 minutes (which is at least what you'd get from a real skunk) use my Entangle solution above, and add "Stops Sight" to it as well.

 

Oh. Forgot to add to above: Entangle does not restrict movement or use of Foci.

[prestidigitator]

I don't think you need Images, Transform, or Drain Com to make the person, "smell bad," unless you really want to make it have drastic long-lasting system effects. I would just make this a "visible" Special Effect of the power (maybe with a Noisy Limitation: "You sure got cooked, didn't you?"). The GM can figure out what specifically to do with this, as story effect (you might get temporary and circumstantial penalties to Com, etc., but I wouldn't say this requires buying a full Drain).

[prestidigitator]

Ooh! How about Darkness to Smell/Taste, combined with Negative Skill Levels ("Man, my eyes are watering/burning!").