How Would You Create an "Anatomical Separation" Power?

[Crisis911]

I posted this in "Rules Questions" by mistake. I have a concept I don't know how to build. I want to create a character who can detach his body parts and control them separately. For example, he could detach an arm and make it fly off and punch someone, or send two arms to grapple someone. Or he can detach an eye and make it fly around to do some reconnaissance, etc.

 

How would you build that? I'm looking for ideas. Thanks!

[dsatow]

Arms flying off would be TK.

Eyes, Nose, and Ears would be Clairsentience.

 

Anatomical Separation would be the special effect.

[Gnome BODY (important!)]

I'd call that Stretching, Does Not Cross Intervening Space and Clairsentience, Only to Locations Stretched To. 

Main difference between my construct and dsatow's is that my version permits your detached bodyparts to be attacked to hurt you.  If that's not what you want, definitely use dsatow's version. 

[Doc Democracy]

7 hours ago, Crisis911 said:

I posted this in "Rules Questions" by mistake. I have a concept I don't know how to build. I want to create a character who can detach his body parts and control them separately. For example, he could detach an arm and make it fly off and punch someone, or send two arms to grapple someone. Or he can detach an eye and make it fly around to do some reconnaissance, etc.

 

How would you build that? I'm looking for ideas. Thanks!

 

What folk are telling you is to ignore, for a moment, what the power's SFX are and list the things you want to accomplish.  So, for example, "I want to be able to detach my hand and allow it to crawl along and flip switch's, grab things, bring them back to me".  That raises some questions that will be related to the SFX.

 

If the hand goes into the next room, can it see?  Would you need to also detach an eye?  If you fall unconscious, can that hand continue to act? If the hand is attacked, does it hurt you?

 

You can wash and repeat with everything else you want it to achieve.

 

Once you have nailed down the actual things you want to do AND tidied up SFX related questions you will be good to go.

 

In addition, another option might be duplication with variable options.  You do your duplication and become two separate entities, one a hand and one a one-handed person.  It would be expensive but give you a lot of built-in advantages.

 

Doc

[Duke Bushido]

Didn't the old Fantasy HERO "physical manifestation" make it into the new edition?  Buy the power and slap on that and the feedback limitation (or was it "can be attacked" or "can be damaged" or-- hell, it's all the same thing....)

 

At any rate, like GB(i), I'd go with a stretching variant, _or_ that "attacking the power hurts me" thing, whichever is more appropriate for the power at hand.  Punching someone across the room?  Stretching.  

 

Rolling an eyeball across a dusty floor (you're welcome     ) to peer under a curtain?  Clairsentience: can be picked off with a dart.

 

That sort of thing.

[Armitage]

The Body Control Powers chapter in Champions Powers also had "Let Me Lend You a Hand", allowing the character to detach their limbs and operate them as independent characters.

It was a Summon, Slavishly Devoted, with Mind Link to the limbs and the Limitation that the character can't use his own limbs while the Summon is active.

[Duke Bushido]

While completely respecting that it was an official published example, that seems damned over-complicated for what it effectively just Stretching.

 

 

[Greywind]

Just use a very sharp or heavy weapon. Body parts severed with every swing.

[dmjalund]

1 hour ago, Duke Bushido said:

While completely respecting that it was an official published example, that seems damned over-complicated for what it effectively just Stretching.

 

 

but it does have the advantage that there is no maximum range

[Crisis911]

Wow, such great responses! I think Stretching with the "Doesn't cross intervening space" limitation, and probably Clairvoyance as well, is probably the way to handle this. Though I will check out that entry in the Powers book as well.

[Duke Bushido]

3 hours ago, dmjalund said:

but it does have the advantage that there is no maximum range

 

I understand that.  I also has all that Summon baggage  (and cost), and there's no real utility in unlimited range when you send your hands around a corner and suddenly you can't see what you're doing.  And of course, having to build each one of your parts as a character to be summoned is bound to be tedious, particularly the defenses, attacks, and movement speeds of bare hands, eyeballs, ears, and single legs.  Each time you break down smaller, you need to make sure you don't have to buy a multiplier for the number of "beings" you an summon.

 

I respect that it is a valid, in the book example written (we can assume) by the guy who wrote the book.

 

I do not respect the build itself, though, and think it was a terrible call.

[steriaca]

I believe I had stated a villain with a similar power. The Corpse could RIP his I intestents out to strangle people, burn people with his stomach acid, dislodge an eye to spy on others. He couldn't rip his arms out and such yet.

[Hugh Neilson]

7 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

While completely respecting that it was an official published example, that seems damned over-complicated for what it effectively just Stretching.

 

5 hours ago, dmjalund said:

but it does have the advantage that there is no maximum range

 

2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

I understand that.  I also has all that Summon baggage  (and cost), and there's no real utility in unlimited range when you send your hands around a corner and suddenly you can't see what you're doing.  And of course, having to build each one of your parts as a character to be summoned is bound to be tedious, particularly the defenses, attacks, and movement speeds of bare hands, eyeballs, ears, and single legs.  Each time you break down smaller, you need to make sure you don't have to buy a multiplier for the number of "beings" you an summon.

 

I respect that it is a valid, in the book example written (we can assume) by the guy who wrote the book.

 

I do not respect the build itself, though, and think it was a terrible call.

 

I think it depends on what you want from the power.  The "summon" model means that each part gets its own actions and operates independently, so he can have one arm attacking the Bad Guy while his other arm is hauling Reporter Nellie Nale off the bhuilding ledge to which she is precariously clinging.  Meanwhile, his right eye is following that henchman who just ran off with the Maguffin so we can retrieve it later, and the rest of him is doing a Move Through against another Bad Guy.

 

That's a lot more utility than Stretching, and more complex, mandating a completely different build.

[Duke Bushido]

And lots and lots of unique perceptions, else those things aren't going to happen very far from eyeshot.

 

Still, I see where you're going.

[Rails]

^^^^ We see what you did there, Duke!  ^^^^^

[Duke Bushido]

2 hours ago, Rails said:

^^^^ We see what you did there, Duke!  ^^^^^

Ha! 

 

That KS for pointing that out! 

 

Seriously, in hindsight, it was hilarious. 

 

But I assure you, if I get off something that funny, it is purely unintentional

 

 

 

 

 

[Ninja-Bear]

On 4/12/2020 at 6:06 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

 

I think it depends on what you want from the power.  The "summon" model means that each part gets its own actions and operates independently, so he can have one arm attacking the Bad Guy while his other arm is hauling Reporter Nellie Nale off the bhuilding ledge to which she is precariously clinging.  Meanwhile, his right eye is following that henchman who just ran off with the Maguffin so we can retrieve it later, and the rest of him is doing a Move Through against another Bad Guy.

 

That's a lot more utility than Stretching, and more complex, mandating a completely different build.

I think of the scene from Teen Titans cartoon where Cyborg detached his hand and did stuff to help the team infiltrate their tower.

[Beast]

depending on the distance you wanted to operate stretching does not cross intervening space(but must be able to get there) and penatrative sight is 1 method
another would be to buy the limb as a vehicle w/ some kind of perception and mind link remote control and any power/s you want it to have(summon so it can be in a multipower)

[Doc Democracy]

On 4/12/2020 at 11:06 PM, Hugh Neilson said:

I think it depends on what you want from the power.  The "summon" model means that each part gets its own actions and operates independently, so he can have one arm attacking the Bad Guy while his other arm is hauling Reporter Nellie Nale off the bhuilding ledge to which she is precariously clinging.  Meanwhile, his right eye is following that henchman who just ran off with the Maguffin so we can retrieve it later, and the rest of him is doing a Move Through against another Bad Guy.

 

That's a lot more utility than Stretching, and more complex, mandating a completely different build.

 

I think you have to think of the downside just as much as the utility.

 

If you detach your hand, you lose the use of that hand, even if it does add utility.  How would you implement the limitation?  A custom limitation "physically impedes the user"??  How much would it be worth for losing a hand?  An eye?? A leg??  If there is no limitation then we assume the character is able to function normally despite having sent half his limbs off on reconnaissance??

 

🙂

Doc

[Hugh Neilson]

2 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

 

I think you have to think of the downside just as much as the utility.

 

If you detach your hand, you lose the use of that hand, even if it does add utility.  How would you implement the limitation?  A custom limitation "physically impedes the user"??  How much would it be worth for losing a hand?  An eye?? A leg??  If there is no limitation then we assume the character is able to function normally despite having sent half his limbs off on reconnaissance??

 

 

How about a Physical Limitation complication with reduced frequency to reflect the fact that the character is not always missing those portions of his anatomy?

 

I suppose another possibility would be a Multiform construct where each Multiform has a "Duplication; altered duplicates; cannot recombine" construct.  Complicated, but perhaps no more complicated than the Summon approach.