Howdy. In my mutant campaign, I've got a new player, and his character has been given a power that makes a moral judgment, basically pyrokinesis with the fire as a metaphor for divine justice: It spares and may even heal the innocent, punishes the guilty with pain, and destroys the irredeemably wicked (if it can). Building the power was easy enough, Accessibility limitation on the burning attack plus some unconscious healing. The hard part was coming up with a consistent basis for the judgment. What I post below is specific to my campaign, but I suspect that others with a similar problem might benefit from adapting the approach.
A couple of comments before we begin: First, the player who nominated the power didn't know that the character who will get it has an obsession with physical purity. Second, a little internet searching on ancient religions taught me that a lot purity rituals look like practical, pre-germ-theory ways to limit the spread of diseases. So I decided to combine moral and physical purity for the purpose of the power's judgment. This is not meant to model any specific real-world religious belief system but probably takes most of it's inspiration from what I found on Zoroastrianism.
Basic mechanic: The power makes a reaction roll to a potential victim. The only modifier is a Purity statistic, described below. It starts at 16 for a healthy newborn and goes down from there. 18 is enough to guarantee the best possible reaction. I interpret reaction rolls as follows:
Excellent: No injury or pain. Healing of disease or Affliction (but not injury).
Very Good: Healing, but it causes pain as impurities are burned away.
Good: Healing as above, with pain regardless, possible change in disadvantages*.
Neutral: Damage capped at 1 less than a major wound, otherwise as Good.
Poor: Damage capped at unconsciousness, possible change in disadvantages*.
Bad: Damage capped at 1 less than a death check, possible change in disadvantages*.
Very Bad: Full damage, no cap.
Disastrous: Double damage.
*The victim knows he has been judged and found wanting, but may change his ways, replacing any disadvantage that leads toward impurity (Compulsive Carousing, Greed, Lecherousness) with ones that lead away from it (Code of Honor, Squeamishness, Truthfulness).
General Modifiers: There are several categories of impurity, and in most cases, these modifiers may apply as well, which I'll describe in more detail in examples that follow the categories.
-1 Excessive Degree
-1 Habitual Frequency
-1 Recent Occurrence
+1 Atonement or Coercion
Categories of Impurity: For each, use the worst penalty that applies. For a base value of zero, penalties apply only in conjunction with general modifiers (and can never be positive).
Agency
-1 Ever witnessed another lose purity unnecessarily and failed to intervene
-2 Ever enticed another to lose purity unnecessarily
-3 Ever coerced another to lose purity unnecessarily
Chaos
0 Disruptive to the social order, or slovenly (e.g., bathes infrequently, allows food to spoil)
Deceit
-1 Ever told a lie (even a “white” lie)
-2 Ever told a lie for personal gain
-3 Ever told a lie to bring harm to another
Breaking a promise counts as Excessive Degree
Death
-1 Ever butchered a beast
-2 Ever handled a human corpse
Actually eating human flesh counts as excessive degree
Defects - General modifiers never apply
-1 Genetic defect, deformity, or maimed (do not count quirks)
-2 Has an open or bleeding wound
Disease
-1 Ever had a communicable disease or parasite
-2 Ever spread a communicable disease or parasite
Pollution
0 Ever eaten bad food (e.g., junk food, or spoiled)
-1 Ever taken a drug or poison
-2 Ever taken a drug for non-medicinal purposes
Any Affliction more severe than Tipsy counts as Excessive Degree
Fertility – General modifiers never apply
+1 Fertile female (count the bonus if applicable, but menstruation counts as a bleeding wound)
Harm
-1 Ever injured a plant or animal (even an insect, but harvesting a fruit is not an injury to a plant)
-2 Ever killed a plant or animal (but not an insect)
-3 Ever injured a human (theft counts)
-4 Ever killed a human (and killing by hand counts as handling a corpse)
Killing in war, self-defense, or for sustenance counts as coercion
Murder, that is killing with intent except in the cases noted above, counts as Excessive Degree.
Torture also counts as Excessive Degree, as does accidental harm if as a result of neglect of a duty
Sex
-1 Ever had sex (Adultery also counts as breaking a vow, rape as coercive Agency)
-2 Had sex with multiple partners
Incest, Sodomy, and Bestiality count as Excessive Degree
All the general modifiers are subjective and context-sensitive. I'd count murder as “habitual frequency” if more than once, but I'd only count coffee consumption (drug for non-medicinal purposes) if daily. I'd count slovenliness as recent only if current (anyone can get dirty on the job or the road), but I'd count disease as recent within a season.
Atonement is hardest to gauge. My rule of thumb is that for moral impurity, it requires restitution in kind whenever possible, and when not possible, equivalent service to others in need. For physical impurity, cleansing counts as atonement: Burn the sheets from your sick bed, wipe all surfaces with disinfectant, and bathe thoroughly. Purity rituals as specified by a religion also count, but personally I prefer Lysol to cattle urine and ashes.
Example of general modifiers in action:
Social Drinker: No general modifiers, -2 for non-medicinal drug
Functional Alcoholic: Habitual and Recent, -4
Binge Drinker: As a functional alcoholic but Excessive, -5
Recovering Alcoholic: As a functional one, but not recent, -3
AA Sponsor: As a recovering alcoholic but atoning by helping others, -2
Severe example:
Lionel hears diabolical voices telling him that Satan is retired and Hell is looking for a new CEO. They want the baddest man possible, and Lionel thinks it sounds like a cush gig. The voices tell him to follow the mantra WWJD: What would Joker do? That's the comic book Joker, Batman's nemesis. So Lionel does every bad thing he can think of as flamboyantly and excessively as possible, racking up the penalties until he's at Purity -19. The voices tell him to do one more thing: Get drunk. You never see Joker doing it because of the comics code. Drunkenness drown the voices and brings clarity; Lionel realizes the enormity of what he's done and sets out to atone. By the time he's done, none of his transgressions are recent (and his open wound has closed), so he's up to Purity 4, actually positive, though he can improve no further.
So what's the purity of a typical adult?
Agency: As a child, did you ever dare your friends to do something dangerous or disruptive? That's -2.
Chaos: Typically 0, for adults.
Deceit: Children lie to deflect blame, harming others, and break promises if for no other reason than forgetfulness. Adults lie routinely (and hence have lied recently) for courtesy. Net penalty -6!
Death: Typically 0 in modern times.
Defects: Most of us have one. I wear glasses. That's -1.
Disease: Caught the flu and went to work anyway? That's -2.
Pollution: Drink coffee, tea, or cola on a daily basis? And been drunk at least once? That's -5.
Harm: Schoolyard fight, as a child? That's -3.
Sex: Habitual frequency during a relationship, and more than one such relationship? For me, nothing extra-marital, but the first marriage didn't work out, so -3.
So a typical adult (or at least one like me) has a net Purity of -6! That means that this super power is most likely to do me harm, but spare my life, and give me an opportunity to do better in the future.
Other benchmarks:
16 Healthy Newborn
12 Crack baby (Deformity and Pollution)
2 Child (as adult without the Sex or Pollution, but may be less if Disruptive)
2 Adult with Disciplines of Faith (Atonement in all relevant categories)
-6 Typical Adult
-12 Immature Adult (Habitual and recent Chaos, Agency, Harm, and Sex)
-14 Serial Killer (Excessive Habitual Recent Harm and Death)
The way I see this working, the power judges a random character, and I ballpark his Purity based on one of these benchmarks. I won't calculate it individually for anyone except the PC who has the power, because he faces judgment regularly. The judgments are pretty harsh, but if they weren't, it would neuter an attack power, but you can change the base starting purity from 16 to calibrate the scale for your campaign. Hope folks can use this.
GEF
A couple of comments before we begin: First, the player who nominated the power didn't know that the character who will get it has an obsession with physical purity. Second, a little internet searching on ancient religions taught me that a lot purity rituals look like practical, pre-germ-theory ways to limit the spread of diseases. So I decided to combine moral and physical purity for the purpose of the power's judgment. This is not meant to model any specific real-world religious belief system but probably takes most of it's inspiration from what I found on Zoroastrianism.
Basic mechanic: The power makes a reaction roll to a potential victim. The only modifier is a Purity statistic, described below. It starts at 16 for a healthy newborn and goes down from there. 18 is enough to guarantee the best possible reaction. I interpret reaction rolls as follows:
Excellent: No injury or pain. Healing of disease or Affliction (but not injury).
Very Good: Healing, but it causes pain as impurities are burned away.
Good: Healing as above, with pain regardless, possible change in disadvantages*.
Neutral: Damage capped at 1 less than a major wound, otherwise as Good.
Poor: Damage capped at unconsciousness, possible change in disadvantages*.
Bad: Damage capped at 1 less than a death check, possible change in disadvantages*.
Very Bad: Full damage, no cap.
Disastrous: Double damage.
*The victim knows he has been judged and found wanting, but may change his ways, replacing any disadvantage that leads toward impurity (Compulsive Carousing, Greed, Lecherousness) with ones that lead away from it (Code of Honor, Squeamishness, Truthfulness).
General Modifiers: There are several categories of impurity, and in most cases, these modifiers may apply as well, which I'll describe in more detail in examples that follow the categories.
-1 Excessive Degree
-1 Habitual Frequency
-1 Recent Occurrence
+1 Atonement or Coercion
Categories of Impurity: For each, use the worst penalty that applies. For a base value of zero, penalties apply only in conjunction with general modifiers (and can never be positive).
Agency
-1 Ever witnessed another lose purity unnecessarily and failed to intervene
-2 Ever enticed another to lose purity unnecessarily
-3 Ever coerced another to lose purity unnecessarily
Chaos
0 Disruptive to the social order, or slovenly (e.g., bathes infrequently, allows food to spoil)
Deceit
-1 Ever told a lie (even a “white” lie)
-2 Ever told a lie for personal gain
-3 Ever told a lie to bring harm to another
Breaking a promise counts as Excessive Degree
Death
-1 Ever butchered a beast
-2 Ever handled a human corpse
Actually eating human flesh counts as excessive degree
Defects - General modifiers never apply
-1 Genetic defect, deformity, or maimed (do not count quirks)
-2 Has an open or bleeding wound
Disease
-1 Ever had a communicable disease or parasite
-2 Ever spread a communicable disease or parasite
Pollution
0 Ever eaten bad food (e.g., junk food, or spoiled)
-1 Ever taken a drug or poison
-2 Ever taken a drug for non-medicinal purposes
Any Affliction more severe than Tipsy counts as Excessive Degree
Fertility – General modifiers never apply
+1 Fertile female (count the bonus if applicable, but menstruation counts as a bleeding wound)
Harm
-1 Ever injured a plant or animal (even an insect, but harvesting a fruit is not an injury to a plant)
-2 Ever killed a plant or animal (but not an insect)
-3 Ever injured a human (theft counts)
-4 Ever killed a human (and killing by hand counts as handling a corpse)
Killing in war, self-defense, or for sustenance counts as coercion
Murder, that is killing with intent except in the cases noted above, counts as Excessive Degree.
Torture also counts as Excessive Degree, as does accidental harm if as a result of neglect of a duty
Sex
-1 Ever had sex (Adultery also counts as breaking a vow, rape as coercive Agency)
-2 Had sex with multiple partners
Incest, Sodomy, and Bestiality count as Excessive Degree
All the general modifiers are subjective and context-sensitive. I'd count murder as “habitual frequency” if more than once, but I'd only count coffee consumption (drug for non-medicinal purposes) if daily. I'd count slovenliness as recent only if current (anyone can get dirty on the job or the road), but I'd count disease as recent within a season.
Atonement is hardest to gauge. My rule of thumb is that for moral impurity, it requires restitution in kind whenever possible, and when not possible, equivalent service to others in need. For physical impurity, cleansing counts as atonement: Burn the sheets from your sick bed, wipe all surfaces with disinfectant, and bathe thoroughly. Purity rituals as specified by a religion also count, but personally I prefer Lysol to cattle urine and ashes.
Example of general modifiers in action:
Social Drinker: No general modifiers, -2 for non-medicinal drug
Functional Alcoholic: Habitual and Recent, -4
Binge Drinker: As a functional alcoholic but Excessive, -5
Recovering Alcoholic: As a functional one, but not recent, -3
AA Sponsor: As a recovering alcoholic but atoning by helping others, -2
Severe example:
Lionel hears diabolical voices telling him that Satan is retired and Hell is looking for a new CEO. They want the baddest man possible, and Lionel thinks it sounds like a cush gig. The voices tell him to follow the mantra WWJD: What would Joker do? That's the comic book Joker, Batman's nemesis. So Lionel does every bad thing he can think of as flamboyantly and excessively as possible, racking up the penalties until he's at Purity -19. The voices tell him to do one more thing: Get drunk. You never see Joker doing it because of the comics code. Drunkenness drown the voices and brings clarity; Lionel realizes the enormity of what he's done and sets out to atone. By the time he's done, none of his transgressions are recent (and his open wound has closed), so he's up to Purity 4, actually positive, though he can improve no further.
So what's the purity of a typical adult?
Agency: As a child, did you ever dare your friends to do something dangerous or disruptive? That's -2.
Chaos: Typically 0, for adults.
Deceit: Children lie to deflect blame, harming others, and break promises if for no other reason than forgetfulness. Adults lie routinely (and hence have lied recently) for courtesy. Net penalty -6!
Death: Typically 0 in modern times.
Defects: Most of us have one. I wear glasses. That's -1.
Disease: Caught the flu and went to work anyway? That's -2.
Pollution: Drink coffee, tea, or cola on a daily basis? And been drunk at least once? That's -5.
Harm: Schoolyard fight, as a child? That's -3.
Sex: Habitual frequency during a relationship, and more than one such relationship? For me, nothing extra-marital, but the first marriage didn't work out, so -3.
So a typical adult (or at least one like me) has a net Purity of -6! That means that this super power is most likely to do me harm, but spare my life, and give me an opportunity to do better in the future.
Other benchmarks:
16 Healthy Newborn
12 Crack baby (Deformity and Pollution)
2 Child (as adult without the Sex or Pollution, but may be less if Disruptive)
2 Adult with Disciplines of Faith (Atonement in all relevant categories)
-6 Typical Adult
-12 Immature Adult (Habitual and recent Chaos, Agency, Harm, and Sex)
-14 Serial Killer (Excessive Habitual Recent Harm and Death)
The way I see this working, the power judges a random character, and I ballpark his Purity based on one of these benchmarks. I won't calculate it individually for anyone except the PC who has the power, because he faces judgment regularly. The judgments are pretty harsh, but if they weren't, it would neuter an attack power, but you can change the base starting purity from 16 to calibrate the scale for your campaign. Hope folks can use this.
GEF
Purity score
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire