Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

[Pizza Man]

I have always wanted to play a summoner, but never could get over the +1 cost of Slavish Loyalty. Why summon anyone if they were not going to obey my every whim?

Further every GM I played under had an active limit of 60 points to start, so again, I never looked at this power.

 

OK, well now I'm inspired. I want to summon something useful, and if I'm stuck on a budget , then so be it, I will NOT give up slavish loyalty...

25 points = 125 character

25 points = slavish loyalty

10 points = 4 characters I can summon

60 point total reached

 

 

the blaster rifle came from the Champions source book (I just added some flaws)

The Kevlar is from a sidebar example in the character creation book.

 

 

 

 

 

Warriors of DOOM

Project D.O.O.M was sponsored by a senator who wanted to get rid of his worthless grandson, and to everyone’s surprise it actually worked! This project took incompetent DNPCs and made them kinda sorta scary. The military was in possession of a 1000 seriously flawed Super-Soldier Enhancement suits from a (now fired) contractor. At last there was a use for them.

 

With minimal training, (and equally flawed Blaster rifles) they had a workable force of fearless Remote Control Military Vehicle operators who could work just behind the front lines. And they could defend themselves fairly well.

And so Project DOOM was born. People of the world, be afraid. Or not.

 

 

10 STR

18 DEX 16

15 CON 5

10 INT

10 EGO

10 PRE

7 OCV 10 (20)*

7 DCV 10 (20)*

3 OMCV

3 ODCV

5 SPEED 15 (30)*

2 PD

2 ED

4 REC

20 END

10 BODY

40 STUN 10(20)*

66 Total characteristics

* Is the OIF enhancement suit -1/2, Does Not work under intense magnetic fields and shorts out underwater.

 

 

30 Blaster Rifle 12D6, 30 charges + 1/4 (75 active points)OAF -1, Does not work under intense magnetic fields, shorts out underwater -1/2

 

8 Jump Pack +20 Leap (24 Total) 2END OAF -1, Does not work under intense magnetic fields or underwater (shorts out). -1/2***** 2 END*******

 

9 Body Armor 8 PD, 8ED. OIF Kevlar armor Suit-1/2, Required Roll: 14-, Half Mass -1/2, Real Armor -1/4 (the Kevlar fits over the Enhancement suit)

 

 

47 Powers so far

66 Characteristics

113 total points

 

Mad Skills

 

3) Computer Programming 11-

2) WF: Blasters

2) TF: Remote control military vehicles, drones, military robots, etc.

2) Knowledge skill: Basic Military Tactics and Maneuvers

1) Conversational (pick one) Spanish, Japanese or whatever was required in high school.

2) Knowledge skill: Nerd, conversant in Japanese Animation, Computer Gaming, Free internet pron, bad monster movies and Sci-Fi, can rules lawyer Hero System games .

12 Skills

113 Powers and Characteristics

125 total points

 

 

Complications

Subject to Orders, Such is life in the military. It translates well to summoned controls.

Physical complications: Out of shape: Overweight, underweight, couch potato, haven’t see sunlight in weeks. YET, they can pull an all-nighter gaming session with ease. He depends on his Enhancement suit to keep up with other troops.

Overconfident when holding a blaster rifle or Fearless when operating a unmanned drone/military robot. At such times, he IS “Da Man!”

Social complications: Nerd. Never been laid. Ever. Planning to build a love robot.

Susceptibility: 2D6 Stun from suit shorting out when underwater. This won’t happen in the worst rain, but rivers, swimming pools, etc are right out. Just another reason why no one else in the military wears these outfits.

They know this and will not willingly enter such bodies of water.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

I think the thing you have to think about with Summon is that the summoned creatures should be specialised. You summon them to do a job - not to be a general handyman - and that is your choice when you design them - with limited points you get effective specialists or general handymen. If you summon a specialist to do a task it is not specialised for it is unlikely to do very well - so you have a variety of specialists for a variety of tasks....

 

...and they can all be slavishly loyal. :-)

 

Doc

[Greywind]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

And there is also the point of the Summoner that has to deal and barter with his Summonings.

[Pizza Man]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

And there is also the point of the Summoner that has to deal and barter with his Summonings.

UNLESS the summoner buys some degree of loyalty. The degree of loyalty you buy determines how many tasks the creature will do for you.

[Greywind]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

Might I suggest you hunt down Matt Wagner's Demon miniseries from around 1990?

[JusticeZero]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

Read the Origami thread on this page, I was puzzling over the same thing. As I discovered, a 125 point Summon can be pretty hideously powerful - I had to weaken my missile type Summon to avoid overshadowing the blaster, and that was -with- a lot of heavy self-imposed limits. As noted though, design specialists.

[Pizza Man]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

Read the Origami thread on this page' date=' [/quote']

I'm not seeing anything with Origami in the title. Can you link to this?

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

(5E) Origami summon build

[ghost-angel]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

I have always wanted to play a summoner, but never could get over the +1 cost of Slavish Loyalty. Why summon anyone if they were not going to obey my every whim?

Further every GM I played under had an active limit of 60 points to start, so again, I never looked at this power.

 

OK, well now I'm inspired. I want to summon something useful, and if I'm stuck on a budget , then so be it, I will NOT give up slavish loyalty...

25 points = 125 character

25 points = slavish loyalty

10 points = 4 characters I can summon

60 point total reached

 

You've also miscalculated the cost; (Base + Adders)*(1 + Advantages)

 

25 Points (for 125 Point Summoned)

10 Points (x4 Summoned)

= 35 Base Points

+1 (Slavishly Loyal)

= 70 Active Points

[Pizza Man]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

You've also miscalculated the cost; (Base + Adders)*(1 + Advantages)

 

25 Points (for 125 Point Summoned)

10 Points (x4 Summoned)

= 35 Base Points

+1 (Slavishly Loyal)

= 70 Active Points

Curses! Foiled again.

Hmmm. Well I can get TWO minions.

25

+5 Two cannon fodder, eh...respected and not disposable minions

30 points

30 for slavishly loyal +1

60 active points.

 

all this means is I have to summon several times to get the numbers I want.

I got the END.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

Curses! Foiled again.

Hmmm. Well I can get TWO minions.

25

+5 Two cannon fodder, eh...respected and not disposable minions

30 points

30 for slavishly loyal +1

60 active points.

 

all this means is I have to summon several times to get the numbers I want.

I got the END.

 

Barring GM Permission - the Number is the maximum Summoned you can have in play at once.

[Pizza Man]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

OK, I can deal with that. We'll assume I can just get two. Nothing more. 60 Point limit.

I will not assume DM's aren't dumb enough to let me summon an army.

 

also I was told to be more specific and focused in what I summoned. OK here is a specific summoned creature:

Doughboys

 

In another dimension, the US was experimenting with cloning expert warriors. What came out of the vat was nothing like they expected.

 

 

The Military at first thought the project was a failure. The clones resembled humans enough to use existing weapons. But they were featureless without noses, beady black eyes, puffy dead-white skin, no hair. But the clones did have one thing going for them, an utter need to follow orders.

 

 

 

So they were given Enhancements suits (too flawed for regular troops), and extensive training. The doughboys (as the human troops called) them earned their keep ever since. Just give them a rifle, a simple, easy to understand mission and let them go. Like Doritos, we can always make more…

 

 

10 STR

18 DEX 16

15 CON 5

10 INT

10 EGO

10 PRE

7 OCV 10 (20)*

7 DCV 10 (20)*

3 OMCV

3 ODCV

5 SPEED 15 (30)*

2 PD 2

2 ED 2

4 REC

20 END

10 BODY

40 STUN 10(20)*

66 Total characteristics

* Is the OIF enhancement suit -1/2, Does Not work under intense magnetic fields and shorts out underwater.

 

Powers

30 Blaster Rifle 12D6, 30 charges + 1/4 (75 active points)OAF -1, Does not work under intense magnetic fields -1/4, shorts out underwater -1/4

 

 

8 Jump Pack +20 Leap (24 Total) 2END OAF -1, Does not work under intense magnetic fields -1/4, shorts out underwater -1/4

 

 

9 Body Armor 8 PD, 8ED. OIF Kevlar armor Suit-1/2, Required Roll: 14-, Half Mass -1/2, Real Armor -1/4 (the Kevlar fits over the Enhancement suit)

47 points so far

66 Characteristics

113 total points

 

 

Skills

 

2) WF: Blasters

2) Knowledge skill: Basic Military Tactics and Maneuvers

2) TF: military ground vehicles.

8) +4 CSL with Blasters (Intensive training)

12 Skills

113 Powers and Characteristics

125 total points

 

 

Complications

Subject to Orders, Such is life in the military. It translates well to summoned controls.

Distivtive features: Cloned warrior. Vat grown, identical, and only superficially resembling humans. Black beady eyes.

Overconfident when holding a blaster rifle

Social complications: Trained to follow orders and kill. Does not think of consequences beyond failing to obey orders.

Susceptibility: 2D6 Stun from suit shorting out when underwater. This won’t happen in the worst rain, but rivers, swimming pools, etc are right out. Just another reason why no one else in the military wears these outfits.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

What genre is this for? Some of the limitations and complications seem to be oddly priced. I'm looking at...

 

"Does not work under intense magnetic fields or underwater (shorts out). -1/2***** "

Which is -1/2 for the first character, and two -1/4 for the summons. It should probably be -0 or -1/4 total depending on how often you expect to fight in intense magnetic fields or underwater.

 

That also combines with both characters having suseptible to being underwater. This means that if you have an underwater adventure, you really don't get to participate, which means the GM won't throw you any, thus it ends up never coming up. I dislike these kinds of builds (ones based around excluding various adventure locals), and then getting rewarded for excluding them.

 

What is Physical complication "out of shape" mean in game terms?

 

Finally, I suggest looking at the Loyal limitation rather than slavishly devoted. A Loyal summon will still fight to defend you which is often good enough.

 

Mass and Real Armor are often not appropriate for a super heroic game.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Summoned Creatures (who are worth a darn) on a Budget.

 

One issue arises with automatons, which must be purchased "slavishly loyal", having no will of their own. With the Loyalty limitation also determining the number of tasks a Summoned creature will perform before needing to be re-Summoned, perhaps that limited number of tasks might be sufficient when purchasing any Summon power?

 

Sure, the Automaton will do what it's told where the Loyal non-Automaton has some measure of free will, but that Loyal minion might also make prudent decisions on its own where the Automaton will merely do as it is told. And a GM who routinely has the Summoned creatures who are supposed to be valuable to the Summoner do nothing, or even act against the Summoner's best interests, is breaching the unwritten contract that spending points obtains commensurate benefits for the character, in my opinion.

 

Is it really a +1 advantage to get a Slavishly Loyal zombie, where a trained soldier with +1/2 Loyal will still fight with all his heart for his cause, and make more prudent choices from his own free will?