Help with a character concept: Pariah

[KA.]

I have an idea for a character for a Champions campaign.

 

I am GM not a player, so I am not overly worried about the mechanics just nailing down the concept.

 

I am thinking of a Heroic character that has a Healing Power, up to and including Resurrection.

 

He needs to have a set of abilities that would make him very attractive to a team of supers looking for a new member.

 

However, he seems to be a loner and very reluctant to join.

 

If this sounds like a Wolverine clone, that is not what I am after at all.

 

This character has a dark secret that keeps him from joining a team, or even having close friends.

 

It concerns his Healing Power.

 

It works by Draining STUN and BODY from anyone nearby, friend or foe.

 

It is involuntary, he has no control over it at all.

 

The thing is, he is not a Casual Killer or any sort of Killer at all.

 

He is not "The best there is at what he does . . ." or anything of the sort.

 

He wants to help people, but he is a constant danger to anyone near him, and they don't even know it.

 

The power works invisibly.

 

So, if he is in a hand-to-hand fight with a Villain it should be over fairly quickly.

 

He damages the Villain, and if the Villain damages him, the same damage the Villain inflicts will be drained from the Villain.

 

The problem is basically everything else.

 

He goes to rescue a child from a burning building. Holding the child in his arms he is carrying him to safety when a gas line explodes.

 

If the hero takes too much BODY, the child he is trying to rescue will likely die when the Healing Power kicks in.

 

If he is with his team and suffers a Ranged Killing Attack the rest of his team will be subject to a loss of STUN and BODY based on how close he is to them.

 

I am not looking for an angst ridden whiner, or a ruthless killing machine, just a guy stuck with a power that he cannot control, trying to help people and always risking hurting them.

 

I also need a better name, especially since Pariah has already been used.

 

KA.

[Lucius]

"Pariah" implies that someone is alone because others shun them.

 

"Eremite" which is if I'm not mistaken is the root of "hermit" sounds more like someone who chooses to be alone for spiritual reasons.

 

Are the people losing BOD and STUN aware that they're being hurt, or apparently unharmed until keeling over?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary suggests "Recluse" which, because of the association with the Brown Recluse spider, may convey that the character not only avoids people but should be avoided because they're dangerous. "Leper" would probably be too obvious....

[massey]

I'm thinking his best role would be as some sort of cult leader.  That's the safest place for him that would still allow him to use his powers.  Think about it this way.  If he goes to a hospital and tries to heal a sick kid or something, he might accidentally end up draining other patients and killing them.  That's not a good outcome.  But stick him in some sort of peaceful hippy commune surrounded by a bunch of followers.  And you bring sick people to him where he can heal them.  He ends up draining the Stun and Body from nearby willing followers.

 

If you're one of the followers, you helped save some kid who was dying of cancer, and all you had to do was take 2 Body and 9 Stun (or whatever).  It hurt for a moment, and these bruises appeared on your arms, but now that kid who was gonna die is alive because of you.  And you can look at the bruises as the Mark of the Emissary (or whatever).  You were chosen by his power to help save the life of a child.

 

With enough followers, you could heal all kinds of sick and dying people.  And your followers will just heal normally.  It's sort of like donating blood.  You experience some momentary discomfort and somebody else gets to live.

 

Now the guy doesn't have to start out as a cult leader.  He could be someone who is a total hermit, afraid to be near people.  But I think he should end up in a pseudo-cult leader role.

[Lord Liaden]

Perhaps someone could design a "containment suit" for him -- something that blocks the life-draining effect, which he can take off or shut down during a fight. It might even be able to reverse the flow, so that he can heal comrades who have been injured, at the expense of his own vital energy. That should make him pretty attractive to a team.

[sinanju]

There was a power in...Gamma World, I believe, called "Life Leech." It allowed you to drain ONE hit point from anyone and everyone within a 100 yard radius. It effectively let you offload any damage you took to all the people around you, or boost your own hitpoints at minimal cost to everyone else prior to going into battle.

 

Mechanically, you could build this in Champions by giving him Regeneration/Resurrection with the limitation (probably -1/4 at most, unless he's frequently isolated with only a handful of potential targets, more like -0 as it's mostly a special effect) that he can only regenerate if there are other people around he can leech off of. Your typical superhero operates in a large city, so there will almost always be lots of people nearby. Effectively, the "life leech" is a special effect with no real functional effect, but if it's common knowledge that his regeneration functions by siphoning the life force of everyone around him, he's still probably not going to be popular.

 

"Oh no! Pariah is fighting [Deadly Villain du Jour]. Run away!"

[freakboy6117]

Is this a healing power self only or can he heal others?

 

One option would be to make his power more general life energy draining birds fall from the skies grass turns brown. That would be a way to signal his power. The excellent powereds novel series by drew Hayes.

 

Featured a healer with a similar power she could absorb other people's pain and injury then give them to others or heal them herself with her own fast healing power.

 

http://www.drewhayesnovels.com/superpowereds

[KA.]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I should have said that the power only heals him, not others.

As far as how it affects others, they know they are hurt, just not exactly why.

 

I am fleshing this out as I go, but I was thinking along the lines of:

Hero A is standing near Pariah.

The Villain hits Pariah with an Energy Blast.

Pariah takes some damage that is subsequently drained from Hero A without his knowing it.

Hero A :"I must have caught part of that. Maybe it was an Area Effect attack or something."

Pariah (reasonably) believes that if anyone knew about his healing power and how it works, they would shun him.

Most people would be unhappy with someone draining away their life force, especially a "friend".

And since it cannot be controlled, in an extended battle he could drain the last few STUN or worse BODY from one of his teammates, putting them down for the count.

[steriaca]

Regeneration with an environmental based Side Effect (when he heals himself, plants, small animals, and insects die) and a "linked" STUN Drain, Area Of Effect Radius, No Range, Personal Immunity, Triggered (Regeneration), Invisible Power Effect.

[Lucius]

Regeneration with an environmental based Side Effect (when he heals himself, plants, small animals, and insects die) and a "linked" STUN Drain, Area Of Effect Radius, No Range, Personal Immunity, Triggered (Regeneration), Invisible Power Effect.

And No Conscious Control

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary doesn't think Trigger is necessary on No Conscious Control Powers

[freakboy6117]

Yeah I think that would work but if you do want to make him more attractive for a team healing others is definitely a must have for most teams. Which would lead to the tragic moment where everyone on the team is beaten to he'll and begging pariah to save some one and he knows if he does they could all die. Also if he walks away into the sunset after being shunned by the team you can always bring him back either with much greater control of his powers or a partner with an overactive healing factor think Deadpool.

[TheQuestionMan]

Leech Healing

 

Transfer

BODY to BODY

Area Effect Radius.

Non Selective

No Concious Control (Variant) Transfers BODY from Random Target in Area Effect Radius Selective by GM to Target)

Side Effect Backlash (Takes BODY from Attacker if no one in Area Effect Radius)

[freakboy6117]

Might be less deadly/more subtle if you have it take body from all targets within AOE.

[Matt the Bruins]

Watching the old HBO series Carnivàle could give ideas about how to run this sort of character. Ben Hawkins' healing powers worked more or less like this.