mayapuppies

Re: Beaks and Speech

Cool, thank you, sir.

Hello all,

If a humanoid race had a beak instead of teeth and lips, what would their speech sound like?

Re: Too Many Complications

The Neb have no need for clothing.

Re: Too Many Complications

Another idea for the Neb. Perhaps their carapaces are used in making magical armor?

heh, that would make them extinct very quickly.

Re: Too Many Complications

Wow I think the chitin is alittle high at 6pd/6ed but am I right to think that this is to compensate that he can't wear armor?

I would think not being able to wear armor is to compensate for the Chitin.

Yes

Seems like a Wizard Neb with protective spells would be amazingly well defended (of course' date=' if they need to vocalize spells, that could be a problem...)[/quote']

This is a very high fantasy setting that borders on low-end supers. That being said, magic is going to be just slightly less dangerous to the caster than to everyone around the caster.

Re: Too Many Complications

True.

I'll bump that up to 1d6 base.

Re: Too Many Complications

The language is free and doesn't add to the costs of the template.

In fact, I generally don't include skills in Racial Templates, this is a big exception.

Re: Too Many Complications

The language is free and doesn't add to the costs of the template.

The rules for adding damage are standard for 6E. I usually ad Reduced Penetration for natural weapons, but for this particular case, since the Neb often attack each other with those things, I figure they are sharp enough to cut through chitin.

Re: Too Many Complications

Here is the template so far including all the changes based on the various threads I've been posting about them.

Characteristics

• Strength +3

• Physical Defense -2

• Energy Defense -2

• Swimming -4

Skills

• Language: Pheromone Communication (idiomatic) (4 Active Points); Limited Power (Must Have Pheromone Communication Power; -1)

Powers

• Chitin: Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED)

• Compound Eyes: Increased Arc Of Perception (240 Degrees) with Normal Sight

• Mandibles: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1/2d6 (1d6+1 w/STR)

• Permeable Chitin: +2 PER with Normal Smell

• Permeable Chitin: Life Support (Self-Contained Breathing), Inherent (+1/4) (12 Active Points); Limited Power (Only To Protect Against Choking/Suffocation/Strangulation Attacks That Do Not Cover The Entire Body; -1), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Cannot Wear Any Clothing Or Armor; -1/2)

• Pheromone Communication: Voice Is Based On Smell Sense Group Instead Of Hearing Sense Group

Talents

• Compound Eyes: Lightning Reflexes (+1 DEX to act first with All Actions)

Complications

• Distinctive Features: Neb (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures)

• Physical Complication: Compound Eyes (Infrequently; Greatly Impairing): This character cannot see objects clearly if they are more than a few feet away. When using a ranged attack, all of the character's range modifiers are doubled.

• Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect Sight Based Flashes and Gases (Uncommon)

Re: Too Many Complications

On to the breathing thing. Instead of building it as a complication you mention a Side Effect, so what about this:

Permeable Chitin: Life Support (Self-Contained Breathing), Inherent (+1/4) (12 Active Points); Limited Power (Only To Protect Against Choking/Suffocation/Strangulation Attacks That Do Not Cover The Entire Body; -1), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Cannot Wear Any Clothing Or Armor; -1/2)

Re: Sign Language

Hm, true.

Re: Communicates by pheromens

Ok, so how about this as a 0 point "power" and then removing the Mute Complication?

Pheromone Communication: Voice Is Based On Smell Sense Group Instead Of Hearing Sense Group

Too much?

Language: Neb Sign Language (completely fluent) (3 Active Points); Gestures, Requires Gestures throughout (-1/2), Requires Light To Use (-1/4)

Re: Communicates by pheromens

hmmm...6e2 p10 discusses "Voice as a Sense". If we extrapolate that, perhaps we could apply the Simulated Sense Group rule to say that most characters have Voice as part of the Hearing Sense Group, but these creatures have Voice as part of the Smell/Taste group. It's not Flashed by Hearing Flash, or blocked by Silence Fields, but it's also limited by the fact most characters have very crude Discriminatory for smell, and wind would impact Smell's range modifiers.

 

This also helps with the Complications issue.

 

makes those "speaks mentally" characters a lot easier too. Voice transfers to the Mental sense group.

I like this. How would that be written up on a character sheet?

Re: Communicates by pheromens

Reading and writing is interesting. Would they have become literate in that they wrote things down that represented the meanings of particular scents that someone else could read later. How would they do that? Would it be in marking where you had a visual representation or would it be possibly colour/scent based patterns that would be interpreted more in common with pheromone clouds. I get the feel that voice communication is a linear thing and so our written language is linear. I get the feel that the written language of the phero-peeps would be less linear....

 

However, I think colour patterns would be longer lasting than placing scents on paper or anything else. I think that scents could be added to the colours to enhance the communication or to give it personality/depth or just to verify identity....

 

 

Doc

They, themselves, do not have a written language. It's more for communicating with other races.

Re: Too Many Complications

Do you really need noraml characterististica maxmima? I thought that in heroic games' date=' that is a 0 cost limitation? I'm assuming that this is a herioc game.[/quote']

I assume NCM is not a campaign requirement' date=' or it would not be a complication. That being the case, perhaps this exotic race should not suffer from NCM.[/quote']

NCM is a standard in the setting, but there are those (called Paragons) that are not required to take it. I'm still working on deciding whether or not I should represent this as NCM as a Complication or have the Paragons buy a Talent that, in affect, "buys off" the NCM limitation.

 

 

Perhaps combine the compound eyes limitation with the flash vulnerability? Or at least make the flash a zero point too. How often is flash going to come up' date=' plus since they can "see" really good with their other senses, its not going to be that great of a limitation if they got flashed.[/quote']

 

And again how imparing is mute going to be when they communicate by other means? Unless of course this is a pc character' date=' then it could be. Anyways these are just some ideas off the cuff. Good luck![/quote']

They are a playable PC race

 

First off' date=' a mute character seems like a pain in the posterior to play from the outset. Does this entire race lack the ability to communicate readily with other races? If so, how does it interact enough to be a viable PC race?[/quote']

See below

 

I agree with Ninja-Bear - can some of these be combined? How common are gaseous attacks in game? Perhaps this is an aspect of breathing through one's skin.

It is a feature of breathing through the skin. I marked the attacks as Uncommon, but considering the use of high magic in the setting I have no idea how common or uncommon they will actually be at this point.

 

If its features are concealable' date=' it presumably can cover up in some manner without suffocating. Maybe it doesn't need the Vulnerable to Gas, it just can't hold its breath due to its skin-based breathing. And is it really easier to cover its skin so it can't breathe than to choke a human or block its limited air intake options? It seems like skin-based breathing has some advantages - could "can't hold breath" actually be a Side Effect of a power that is Always On, moving it out of complications entirely?[/quote']

Good catch, those features are not supposed to be Concealable, an artifact of cut-n-paste. The Complicaiton about leaving skin uncovered is to indicate that they will not wear clothing or armor and to have a mechanical reason to avoid power gamers and rules lawyers pointing to a lack of mechanical restriction on the ability.

 

How much does "range penalties are doubled/can't see clearly at a distance" impair the creature compared to the value of complete blindness? Full Blindness is a sellback in 6e - what if you adopted a campaign rule that limited sensory loss is also a Sellback? If Sight is worth 35 points (6e1 209), perhaps Sight with Limited Range is a -1/2 limitation so you get a 12 point sellback. This would, to me, be especially appropriate if this offsets the cost of other senses being enhanced. This departs from the 6e base rules, but could certainly be a campaign standard.

 

If Sight is a sellback, why shouldn't Mute be a sellback? That would solve a lot of the issue. 6e2 p10 suggests the possibility of "Voice as a sense" at a cost of 25 points, so sellback would be consistent with the rule for blindness.

I'd like to avoid using house rules that depart from 6E rules and try to make the builds as compatible with Hero Designer as possible.

 

Personally' date=' I'd be reluctant to leave a character with no point benefit from plot hook complications like Psych's, so using up close to the full allotment with a package would ideally be avoided, but 50 points isn't a lot if you have a big Complication or two.[/quote']

Me too, this is why I'm trying to get this hammered out and I really appreciate all the help I'm getting so far.

 

Here is the race write-up, which may help with all of this:

 

APPEARANCE

The Neb resemble humanoid translucent yellow ants, that, like most humanoids have only four limbs rather than the six or more you would expect for an insectile species. They stand just over six feet tall on average and are quite heavy for their size, averaging about 250 pounds at six feet tall.

 

Neb do not breathe as humans do, instead they absorb oxygen through their chitin, this is an uncontrollable process and thus they are incapable of holding their breath. Because of this they are incapable of swimming without some form of magical protection.

 

This form of respiration renders the Neb immune to physical choking attacks, but they are far more susceptible to gases, both harmful and beneficial.

 

As a rule, the Neb, regardless of culture avoid wearing any sort of clothing or armor as it restricts the flow of air significantly. Instead they rely on the strength of their chitin to protect them from weather and attacks.

 

Neb do not differentiate between male or female when speaking of themselves or others and it is impossible for none Neb to discern the differences. The Neb language does not have male or female pronouns but over time they have come to call females egg-layers and all males as fertilizers.

 

DIET

Neb are fungivores by nature, though they are capable of digesting most plant matter if it is necessary.

 

LANGUAGE

The Neb are completely mute, unable to vocalize. They communicate amongst themselves via complex pheromones. They are perfectly capable of understanding other cultural languages and have even developed a sign language to communicate with non-Neb.

 

SENSES

The Neb have compound eyes that allow them to see 240 degrees and their sense of smell is extremely acute. The rest of the Neb’s senses are the same as humans.

 

REPRODUCTION

Neb have no physical differences between the sexes that are obvious to non-Neb, however, they are differentiated internally with females capable of laying eggs throughout their lives. It is estimated that they can lay a single egg every day of their adult life. However, fertilization is limited by the male’s inability to produce enough sperm more than once a month.

 

Once an egg is fertilized by the male, a process that involves the egg being laid and then the male punctures it and injects his semen, it takes approximately 2 months for the larvae to mature enough to hatch.

 

The newly hatched larvae remain in a pupae state for 5 years. During this time the pupae is completely helpless and incapable of doing anything other than feeding as it’s maggot-like body slowly transforms into a fully developed adult Neb.

 

LIFE CYCLE

Neb have an accelerated lifespan, attaining adulthood at the age of 5 on average and considered middle aged around 15. Most do not live beyond the age of 30.

Re: Too Many Complications

Comes out to 75pts and campaign limit is currently set to 50pts

• Distinctive Features: Neb (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures)
  
• Physical Complication: Compound Eyes (Frequently; Greatly Impairing): This character cannot see objects clearly if they are more than a few feet away. When using a ranged attack, all of the character's range modifiers are doubled.
  
• Physical Complication: Mute (Very Frequently; Greatly Impairing)
  
• Physical Complication: Normal Characteristic Maxima (Infrequently; Barely Impairing)
  
• Physical Complication: Skin Must Be Uncovered To Breathe (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing)
  
• Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect Gases (Uncommon)
  
• Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect Sight Based Flashes (Uncommon)
  

So I'm building a racial package and it turns out that the race, baseline, has more Complications than the original campaign limits.

I'm looking for suggestions as to what to do with this.

Reducing the racial complications takes away from the race build and increasing the campaign limits puts an onerous chore on the potential PC's of other races.

Re: Communicates by pheromens

The Mute Complication is pricey. This is the cheapest I could get it:

Physical Complication: Mute (All the Time; Greatly Impairing)

30 pts

or maybe this:

Physical Complication: Mute (Very Frequently; Greatly Impairing)

25 pts

Re: Communicates by pheromens

On a similar note, how would you work learning to only read a language? Mute character as an example, can't speak the language but nothing is stopping him from reading and writing.

Same cost as normal?

So, here's another how to build question. I'm thinking Telepathy would work for this but I want to put it forward.

I have a race that is incapable of verbal communication, among themselves, they communicate through pheromones, exactly the way that ants do, though with far greater complexity. This form of communication is only capable between members of this race and is not a thing that other races can mimic or learn. I'd also like to keep it relatively short ranged to account for dissolution and confusion thanks to dispersal and wind currents.

How would you build that?

Re: Fear of being entangled/smothered/grabbed

Gracias

Re: Fear of being entangled/smothered/grabbed

The answer is yes. Humans are quite adapt at developing fears.

 

If your question is if this is common and distinctive enough to have a specific name (and be not just counted as a form of Claustrophobia) or what it's latin name is, I have no idea.

Yeah, the latter...

Re: Compound Eyes

How's this?

• Compund Eyes: Increased Arc Of Perception (240 Degrees) with Normal Sight
  
• Vulnerability: 1 1/2 x Effect Sight Based Flashes (Uncommon)
  
• Physical Complication: Compound Eyes (Frequently; Greatly Impairing). Notes: This character cannot see objects clearly if they are more than a few feet away. When using a ranged attack, all of the character's range modifiers are doubled.
  
• Compound Eyes: Lightning Reflexes (+1 DEX to act first with All Actions)
  

What are the benefits/complications of having the antennae of an ant?