How to Wildfire

[JmOz]

How would you build Wildfire (DC comics legion of Superheroes) suit.  It basically gives him a physical presence (he is an energy being)

[death tribble]

You would have to have Life Support total

And maybe use the suit as a focus in that he cannot use his powers without it as he cannot coalesce. Thus if the suit is significantly compromised he is powerless.

Maybe a Variable Power Pool for the effects he can produce.

Other than that I would hav to find my DC Legion of Superheroes sourcebook for the game which listed his powers

[JmOz]

Thanks tribble, was more concerned with the "gives him a physical form" aspect...Character is an energy being without all those fun things he could do (out of suit: Invisible, Flight, Desolid, all always on)...More I think of the character the more I think I will need to buy it as a Multiform OIF (don't like that idea)...

 

[death tribble]

I liked the idea but then again I was trying to save points.

 

And nice to see you around again.

[Doc Democracy]

I was thinking of a physical limitation, cannot interact with the world unless in a containment suit.  I would then think about the suit and how it might be damaged in game...

 

Beyond that, the character is standard.

 

Easy-peasy. 🙂

[assault]

Doc Democracy has the right idea.

 

The blob in the suit is the main character.

 

Under certain circumstances the suit gets ruptured, and he becomes the energy blob until he can get a new suit. This doesn't happen very often.

 

Hmm. Accidental change, when he takes body? Physical limitation?

 

While he theoretically could use his energy form to scout, he doesn't in practice (someone will now point out an example when he does). Basically, the only thing that really matters when he is insubstantial is the Life Support that he also has when he is in the suit. There's no good reason to bother with Multiform.

 

The easiest solution is a Physical Limitation, set off when he takes Body. (The suit is penetrated.)

 

In practice, that means that taking Body takes him out of a fight, but he is effectively immune to any further attacks. A reasonable trade off.

 

Using Accidental Change can allow more nuance to that, potentially allowing him to fight on after such a hit - but the subsequent immunity becomes more dubious, possibly requiring his insubstantial form to be statted out.

[Ninja-Bear]

5 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

I was thinking of a physical limitation, cannot interact with the world unless in a containment suit.  I would then think about the suit and how it might be damaged in game...

 

Beyond that, the character is standard.

 

Easy-peasy. 🙂

This my first thought and think it’s great. I’ll throw out the concept of buying off the limitation. So Wildfire has Desolid always on and then buys off the always on as a focus. Just a thought.

[steriaca]

It really depends on how the player/gm has concept of the character. The character may be an energy being, but if he can't go outside his containment suit without risk of permanent displacement enough to destroy his mentally and "soul", then nothing else is needed.

 

Of course,  him "leaving his suit" could just be a special effect of his attack powers. Energy blast? He lifts his visor of his suit and some of him "flows" to his target and "washes" over him. Ranged Killing Attack? A more intense wash. Flash? Simply lift the visor (area of effect, cone, no range, gestures).

[Doc Democracy]

7 hours ago, Ninja-Bear said:

This my first thought and think it’s great. I’ll throw out the concept of buying off the limitation. So Wildfire has Desolid always on and then buys off the always on as a focus. Just a thought.

This was my first thought.  I preferred the physical limitaton because it was bit less defined and more all encompassing than being desolid.

 

It is better for the same reason, easier for the GM to decide how things play out when he loses the containment suit.

[Sundog]

I'd be thinking multiform myself. Accidental change to energy form if the suit BODY reaches zero linked to a heal bought to standard effect that would restore all BODY to the character (to show that no actual harm had been done). The energy form still has certain advantages for scouting and espionage.

 

[Hugh Neilson]

I don't believe he could use most of his powers in pure energy form.  He needed the suit to Blast, and he seemed to move faster in the suit than in energy form.

 

In his first appearance, he cut loose with such force that he exited the suit entirely and was left discorporated.  In his next, he had "pulled together", but could not be detected or communicate.  He somehow made his way to Legion HQ, where he was able to scout around and discover the plot against the Legion, and he indicated he could enter a person and communicate with them, but he could not pass through the force field around his suit (on display), nor the similar field created by the legion flight rings.  The villain was an android who could not be communicated with.

 

That suggests a Multiform as he has a very different power suite within the suit than outside it.

 

Although he changed over time - I believe he eventually was able to physically manifest without the suit.

[JmOz]

Some clarifications:

The character will be a natural energy being.  in his natural form he is invisible, desolid, unable to interact with things except a small amount of techno telepathy (He can use computers and such by touching them)

The suit is a modified battle suit that he is "possessing".  It allows him to talk, move, etc...

Out of the suit he is not in danger of dispersing, but cannot interact with the world in any meaningful way (other than observation)

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

13 minutes ago, JmOz said:

Some clarifications:

The character will be a natural energy being.  in his natural form he is invisible, desolid, unable to interact with things except a small amount of techno telepathy (He can use computers and such by touching them)

The suit is a modified battle suit that he is "possessing".  It allows him to talk, move, etc...

Out of the suit he is not in danger of dispersing, but cannot interact with the world in any meaningful way (other than observation)

The big question is "Will this character take advantage of their energy being nature by leaving the suit?". 

If he will, it's a Multiform.  If he won't, it's a Physical Limitation: Assumes weaker alternate form when suit damaged/destroyed.  If he says he won't but then demonstrates he will, fill a spray bottle with cold water and aim for the face while saying "No!  Bad player!" in a firm but calm tone of voice. 

[assault]

31 minutes ago, Gnome BODY (important!) said:

The big question is "Will this character take advantage of their energy being nature by leaving the suit?". 

If he will, it's a Multiform.  If he won't, it's a Physical Limitation: Assumes weaker alternate form when suit damaged/destroyed.  If he says he won't but then demonstrates he will, fill a spray bottle with cold water and aim for the face while saying "No!  Bad player!" in a firm but calm tone of voice. 

 

I might let him get away with it once, on the basis of Special Effects, but if he keeps doing it, he has to pay points, meaning Multiform.

[death tribble]

15 hours ago, assault said:

I might let him get away with it once, on the basis of Special Effects, but if he keeps doing it, he has to pay points, meaning Multiform.

Not if the special effects are on the basis of lunatic and drinks. It's in the can.

He'd be acting his reaction

[JmOz]

Okay, thinking more about him

 

Let's start with, instead of the F/X, the actual in play effect.  

 

Normaly he will be basically a robot (Easy enough to build), that CAN send out a ghost form...

The ghost form is invisible, desolid, can fly, full life support.  

 

An almost never used ability will be giving the suit to someone else, or to have someone "ride" with it (Still in control of the suit BUT...)

 

Thinking just make the robot, with desolid leaves the body behind.  Some of the "shared" powers get tricky (Powers he has naturally and the suit provides)

[massey]

Clairsentience, invisible, leaves body behind.

[Doc Democracy]

On 12/26/2019 at 11:25 PM, JmOz said:

Normaly he will be basically a robot (Easy enough to build), that CAN send out a ghost form...

The ghost form is invisible, desolid, can fly, full life support.

 

Is this not exactly the wrong way round?  The robot form does not send out a ghost form, the ghost form can be seen and interact with the physical world if it inhabits a specially built suit.

 

I would buy the invisibility, desolid, flight etc with the limitation Always on.  He has a real problem being seen or heard or affecting the physical world.  The points "saved" by the limitation are then limited by the application of a focus (OIF - breakable).  when he wears the focus, the always on is not effective but if the focus is destroyed then he becomes the ghostlike being with no effect on the real world until he can locate a new focus. 

 

Doc

[massey]

There is no "reality" that you're trying to simulate.  The only thing that matters is what the character can do in the game.  Don't waste points trying to simulate something that doesn't come up in the game.

 

A few years ago, somebody asked how to make a character that can reincarnate.  When they die, they come back with different powers, different skills, different memories.  The easiest answer is -- you don't bother.  That's no different than just creating a new character each time.

 

Wildfire is an energy being held within a containment suit.  He needs the suit to interact with the world.  But really, that's not very different from Yoda telling Luke that "luminous beings are we, not this crude matter".  For all intents and purposes, Wildfire is the suit.  When he leaves the suit, he can't do anything.  If the suit is destroyed, he's in danger of dispersing.  How is that any different than being unconscious and/or at negative body?  He just has a clever description of what is happening, a different special effect.

 

Wildfire doesn't really get to do anything cool when he leaves the suit.  At most, it's Clairsentience, leaves body behind.  Might even make it no conscious control, and just let the GM give him hints as to things his energy ghost form just happens to see.

[Doc Democracy]

10 minutes ago, massey said:

Wildfire doesn't really get to do anything cool when he leaves the suit.  At most, it's Clairsentience, leaves body behind.  Might even make it no conscious control, and just let the GM give him hints as to things his energy ghost form just happens to see.

 

I think the game difference would be that, using clairsentience, if your body is destroyed, then you are dead (as a character).  If your "body" is simply a suit that is a focus for becoming embodied, then leaving the suit behind does not leave you open to be killed while your consciousness is elsewhere.

 

I am however, pretty much in agreement that there comes a time when you are counting angels on the head of a pin...

[HeroGM]

Desolid always on with a naked advantage to turn off the always on. Look in champions powers under force powers. Same way youd do fuji from stormwatch

[Ninja-Bear]

Would it be easier to build him using AI and Robots rules? The AI would represent his Desolid form and Robot well his robot form.

[Matt the Bruins]

I'm fairly sure I've seen him go all explode-y on someone as part of exiting the suit—maybe that Oan clone Servant of Darkness in the Great Darkness Saga?

 

Ah, here we go:

[massey]

Big attack, knocks self unconscious when used (may require outside help to re-enter suit and wake up).

[Tech]

I believe the simplest way to handle the "out of suit" problem is: Phys Limitation: cannot interact with world when suit is destroyed. Trying to build powers to represent him being out of the suit is pointless if the chance of his suit being wrecked is rare/small. You're forcing the player to buy powers that may never get used, which is unfair.