Striking Appearance

[NuSoardGraphite]

Negative COM was a strange mechanical effect to me, so having Striking Appearance as a way of portraying horrifying ugliness or incredible beauty, depending on how it is defined, works a bit better for me.

 

(In 1st and 2nd Edition, I think the Monster and Hideous had negative COM scores.)

I never had a poblem with negative comliness. would provide penalties to certain social skills, or a bonus to other rolls and PRE attacks based on fear/intimidation. it was pretty cut and dried to me.

[Steve]

Yes, but in 2nd Edition, I believe you could sell off COM below zero to get a scary PRE boost and get points back in the process. I can't recall if that went away in 3rd Edition.

[Greywind]

The "benefit" of neg COM as applied to PRE attacks was offset by the fact that all other aspects were severely hampered. Most other interaction skills took a hit.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Yes, but in 2nd Edition, I believe you could sell off COM below zero to get a scary PRE boost and get points back in the process. I can't recall if that went away in 3rd Edition.

In the 4th edition, one of the Ultimate books* also talked about Negative COM.  You got points back down to COM 0 (a whole whopping 5pts!) then after that, you had to spend points to go into the negative because of the bonuses it would give you to PRE attacks to frighten or intimidate.  And yes, I think you gain just about as many penalties for having negative COM than you get benefits unless you don't have much social activity in your games. (penalties to Oratory, Conversation, Seduction, Persuasion depending on the circumstances)

 

*At least, I think it was an Ultimate book.  I honestly can't remember which book gave a detailed explanation on Negative Characteristics and their effects in general.

[Tasha]

Because some people felt that COM didnt gel with the standard hero mechanics. That it wasnt very well defined and that it felt unnecessary. striking appearance has a specific purpose, has proper granularity and is well defined.

 

I disagree with those people whole heatedly. i loved COM. I feel that it did everything that Striking appearance did with more granularity and was just as well defined. but then again i seem to read more into hero than a lot of people do.

Striking appearance and COM have the same REAL granularity. The primary stats have a ton of false granularity built in (that is, it looks like there's a lot of granularity, but what matters are numbers in multiple's of 5 and rounding points).

 

Early on COM was just the pretty/ugly stat with not much rules support to give you a concrete idea of what it could do. Many Pre skills said something about Com sometimes giving a bonus to that skill under certain nebulous circumstances that were never well explained until 5e.

[Tasha]

In the 4th edition, one of the Ultimate books* also talked about Negative COM.  You got points back down to COM 0 (a whole whopping 5pts!) then after that, you had to spend points to go into the negative because of the bonuses it would give you to PRE attacks to frighten or intimidate.  And yes, I think you gain just about as many penalties for having negative COM than you get benefits unless you don't have much social activity in your games. (penalties to Oratory, Conversation, Seduction, Persuasion depending on the circumstances)

 

*At least, I think it was an Ultimate book.  I honestly can't remember which book gave a detailed explanation on Negative Characteristics and their effects in general.

Nope, it was in the core rulebook in 4e buried in the section on negative stats.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Nope, it was in the core rulebook in 4e buried in the section on negative stats.

Was it in the core rulesbook?  I totally don't remember that.

[Tasha]

The big issue was that it was giving PC's points for something that was often times a benefit. Under 6e you now have to pay points for how frightening your ugly character is, and on top of it you can take a Distinctive Looks Complication.

[NuSoardGraphite]

The big issue was that it was giving PC's points for something that was often times a benefit. Under 6e you now have to pay points for how frightening your ugly character is, and on top of it you can take a Distinctive Looks Complication.

I agree with that, but the most you could gain from selling back COM was 5pts (selling it down to 0).  How I handled this was that COM down to 0 didn't add to PRE attacks...you weren't frightening, just ugly.  And it effected your Interaction Skills negatively.  If you want to go negative COM, which IS frightening, then you pay.  You essentially could get to -10 COM for "free" (you get 5pts back to go down to COM 0, then spend 5pts getting to -10) but to go any uglier, you have to pay.  And it still effected your Interaction Skills negatively.

 

I have actually never had a PC use this.  I have used it for several NPC's though.

[Christopher]

I agree with that, but the most you could gain from selling back COM was 5pts (selling it down to 0).  How I handled this was that COM down to 0 didn't add to PRE attacks...you weren't frightening, just ugly.  And it effected your Interaction Skills negatively.  If you want to go negative COM, which IS frightening, then you pay.  You essentially could get to -10 COM for "free" (you get 5pts back to go down to COM 0, then spend 5pts getting to -10) but to go any uglier, you have to pay.  And it still effected your Interaction Skills negatively.

 

I have actually never had a PC use this.  I have used it for several NPC's though.

Just say "everyone get's 1-2 levels of Striking Appereance for free" and you get the same effect. Without those pesky negative numbers on sheets.

Strinking Appeareance can be Strikingly beatuyfull, Strkingly Ugly, Strikingly Frightening and everything else you simualted with Negative Comeliness.

 

I used SA to answer the Questions "How do build Dr. Who Psychic Paper":

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/88203-how-would-you-build-psychic-paper/?do=findComment&comment=2332922

 

Same effect in a more general, modifyable Package. And generalisation was the biggest thing between 5E and 6E.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Just say "everyone get's 1-2 levels of Striking Appereance for free" and you get the same effect. Without those pesky negative numbers on sheets.

Strinking Appeareance can be Strikingly beatuyfull, Strkingly Ugly, Strikingly Frightening and everything else you simualted with Negative Comeliness.

 

I used SA to answer the Questions "How do build Dr. Who Psychic Paper":

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/88203-how-would-you-build-psychic-paper/?do=findComment&comment=2332922

 

Same effect in a more general, modifyable Package. And generalisation was the biggest thing between 5E and 6E.

Keep in mind, I have no problem using both COM and Striking Appearance simultaneously.  I have used bonus PRE dice with a SFX similar to Striking Appearance before in the 4th and 5th ed days, and we still had COM and they weren't mutually exclusive.  I just much prefer having a Comeliness or Appearance stat for characters.  And from my experiences, the players like it as well.

[JasonPacker]

The biggest benefit to me of Striking Appearance is that it has a built in limitation to allow it to be subjective, where COM was rarely purchased with any limitations on it, and so you wound up with Elves that were beautiful even to Orcs, as an example.

 

I'm not such a fan of the name, and might go even more granular (3 pts per level for everyone, 2 pts for a large group or not effective on a small group, and 1 pt for a small group or not effective on a large group), but I'm generally fond of it.

[Tasha]

Just say "everyone get's 1-2 levels of Striking Appereance for free" and you get the same effect. Without those pesky negative numbers on sheets.

Strinking Appeareance can be Strikingly beatuyfull, Strkingly Ugly, Strikingly Frightening and everything else you simualted with Negative Comeliness.

 

I used SA to answer the Questions "How do build Dr. Who Psychic Paper":

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/88203-how-would-you-build-psychic-paper/?do=findComment&comment=2332922

 

Same effect in a more general, modifyable Package. And generalisation was the biggest thing between 5E and 6E.

Yeah everyone DOES get 2 levels of Striking Appearance. It's listed on the sheet as 10 Presence.

[NuSoardGraphite]

The biggest benefit to me of Striking Appearance is that it has a built in limitation to allow it to be subjective, where COM was rarely purchased with any limitations on it, and so you wound up with Elves that were beautiful even to Orcs, as an example.

 

I'm not such a fan of the name, and might go even more granular (3 pts per level for everyone, 2 pts for a large group or not effective on a small group, and 1 pt for a small group or not effective on a large group), but I'm generally fond of it.

As simply a campaign feature, I have placed adjustments on COM depending upon which species is looking at you.  In general, when it comes to Orcs looking at Elves and humans, the better looking you are, the worse you look to the Orcs and vice versa, so I simply reverse the COM.  A COM 10 is normal all across the board.  So an elf or human with COM higher than 10, is actually considered to having COM less than 10 to Orcs and other goblinoids.  When orcs and goblins have COM higher than 10, they appear uglier to humans, elves etc.

[JasonPacker]

As simply a campaign feature, I have placed adjustments on COM depending upon which species is looking at you.  In general, when it comes to Orcs looking at Elves and humans, the better looking you are, the worse you look to the Orcs and vice versa, so I simply reverse the COM.  A COM 10 is normal all across the board.  So an elf or human with COM higher than 10, is actually considered to having COM less than 10 to Orcs and other goblinoids.  When orcs and goblins have COM higher than 10, they appear uglier to humans, elves etc.

Interesting idea, but artificial, isn't it? What if you're just an ugly, deformed Orc? Orcs think you got the short end of the stick and humans can't tell you apart from any other Orc...

 

Though it does make me want to play an Orc in a game with you. Buy my COM down to -10 and be the prettiest orc lass in all the land. "Look at her - disgusting! All pinkish and soft, and her underbite and tusks are barely visible. Why they didn't drown her when she was born all mutated like that is beyond me..."

[NuSoardGraphite]

Interesting idea, but artificial, isn't it? What if you're just an ugly, deformed Orc? Orcs think you got the short end of the stick and humans can't tell you apart from any other Orc...

 

Though it does make me want to play an Orc in a game with you. Buy my COM down to -10 and be the prettiest orc lass in all the land. "Look at her - disgusting! All pinkish and soft, and her underbite and tusks are barely visible. Why they didn't drown her when she was born all mutated like that is beyond me..."

My process is based on the difference in the cosmetic details on the species in general.

 

Most of the humaniod species that are near-human in looks....elves, dwarves, halflings etc, can be considered attractive to humans and vice versa.  There are of course some differences (height in the case of halflings and dwarves, "stoutness" and hair in the case of dwarves etc) but for the most part their COM can be considered comparable.

 

Species that have completely different looks than humans, will be based on viewing their own species for the most part.  For goblinoids, skin texture would be important, musculature, hairlessness (maybe) the size of one's canines or incisors and the fierceness of one's countenance.  Theirs being a society based on physical dominance, those goblinoids who look like they can hold their own in a brawl, or those who look like they've been any many battles and come out ahead (scars and whatnot) will be seen as the more attractive.  For males being attracted to females, stoutness of form, hardiness etc would be the desired traits.  Thus, the "uglier" a goblinoid is to a human, generally the more attractive they would be to their own kind.  A goblinoid who appears "more attractive" to humans (less bumpy skin, less fierce countenance, softer eyes, a slightly slender yet mildly muscular build) would probably appear quite soft and weak to your average goblinoid.