HMHVV, Daddy, where do new ghouls come from? |
HMHVV, Daddy, where do new ghouls come from? |
Nov 20 2007, 06:37 PM
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#1
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Target Group: Members Posts: 56 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 283 |
Next session may involve a run-in with the 162s. In preparing for possible ghoulish mayhem, I noticed that ghouls don't have the Infection ability (nor the pre-requisite Essence Drain).
So... exactly how are new ghouls created? And what rules should I be using if PCs find themselves getting nibbled on? -~GitM |
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Nov 20 2007, 06:45 PM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 453 Joined: 15-August 02 From: Kansas City, MO Member No.: 3,116 |
No rules exist yet for this in SR4. You can refer to the old SR3 Shadowrun Companion for ideas, but that's about it. You're on your own. Have fun. =)
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Nov 20 2007, 07:04 PM
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#3
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
There have never been rules that changed player characters into the characters called "Ghouls" which they encounter during exciting tunnel fighting mayhem.
When the flavor explanation for Ghouls was changed from "Ghouls are an unplayable alternate goblinization type of metahuman" to "Ghouls are a metahuman infected with a disease that gives them superpowers and insanity" - there was introduced a two tier system of Ghouls. The NPC ghouls had about the same stats and abilities that you see in the SR4 basic book. The Player Character ghouls had their stat modifiers generated randomly off a chart - but in no case were the modifiers as good as the ones that the NPCs got. Basically it was like the Game Which Shall Not Be Mentioned, where monsters get one set of stats as monsters and a whole set of painful "Level Adjustments" if you try to play one. Personally I never accepted the "Ghouls are infectuous" plotline. The fact that there has never been a set of published rules that would turn a PC into one is just ammunition in my strident objection to ever use it. Old school 4 life. -Frank |
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Nov 20 2007, 07:46 PM
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#4
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,326 Joined: 15-April 02 Member No.: 2,600 |
There was a lot of that type of bullflop in the Companion. The shapechangers going from an Essence 8 to Essence 6 when they became pc's was my favorite (in a bad way) example of that.
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Nov 20 2007, 08:23 PM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 830 Joined: 3-April 04 From: Columbus, Ohio Member No.: 6,215 |
I personally enjoyed just being a capricious dick of a GM about it. "You got scratched. You're a ghoul." The only time I actually did it, the player LOVED me for it, and had a totally awesome shaman after that, who lived in our basement, because the player lived out of town and wasn't able to make it to the game often. It was appropriate, because his name was Sleeping Bear. And we had a ghoul shaman with an axe sleeping in the basement. Take THAT, burglars!
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Nov 20 2007, 09:01 PM
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#6
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 152 Joined: 4-July 05 From: Delaware, OH Member No.: 7,483 |
If you refer to the SR Companion (3rd edition), pages 33-34. All the rules are given for a PC to be infected and turned into a ghoul when bitten or scratched.
The results are random, so a character who wants to become a ghoul that way probably won't like the results. |
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Nov 20 2007, 09:01 PM
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#7
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 993 Joined: 5-December 05 From: Crying in the wilderness Member No.: 8,047 |
Sr3 Critters, ghouls have the pestilence power Kriger HMVV, infer what you will for SR4.
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Nov 20 2007, 11:25 PM
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#8
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
When a mommy ghoul and a daddy ghoul love each other very much they take all of their clothes off and wrestle. 9 months later the stork comes.
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Nov 20 2007, 11:55 PM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 834 Joined: 30-June 03 Member No.: 4,832 |
I'll enter my input here, I thought the SR3 rules for ghouls were both cumbersome and dumb at the same time, I got lost about the 5th roll in for what the hell was supposed to be happening to my character.
For SR4, I'd say that turning into ghouls is a character ending event, being bit would require a disease resistance test, and if that fails then the character must burn a edge point to continue playing. Alternately, if you're feeling nice, make them a metahuman strain that isn't in the party, so that if they get bit, they will be a carrier but not a ghoul. |
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Nov 20 2007, 11:59 PM
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#10
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
treatment has been available that will prevent you from turning into a ghoul for quite some time. given it takes something in the neighbourhood of 1 month for the conversion to actually occur, it is generally not too difficult to avoid turning into a ghoul. burning an edge point is excessive.
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Nov 21 2007, 12:13 AM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 834 Joined: 30-June 03 Member No.: 4,832 |
I had forgot about that, it's a good point. Burning edge may be excessive, but given that you have medical treatment for it, and already have to fail a resistance test, I don't know what more you would want other than just saying "it's not infectious". |
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Nov 21 2007, 09:34 AM
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#12
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The ShadowComedian Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 14,538 Joined: 3-October 07 From: Hamburg, AGS Member No.: 13,525 |
don't forget that there's TWO tests involved in the turning . . one to see if you actually get infected or if your immune system says:"git outta here freak!" and one test to see if you actually CHANGE into a Ghoul or if you get to stay . . whatever it was you were before . . if you botch the first, you get the second, if you make the first, there's no need for a second . . if you botch the first and manage to be successfull enough on the second, you stay what you were but you're still able to infect other people with HMHVV if i understood correctly . . only if you botch both of those you do change . . and if you do change you get another test to see how much it affects you, based on your willpower . .
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Nov 21 2007, 10:24 AM
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#13
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,838 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,669 |
I wonder what would happen if you throw gene therapy into the mix, for better or worse...
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Nov 21 2007, 10:48 AM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 263 Joined: 18-October 03 From: Cal Free State Member No.: 5,734 |
Here's a quick version I just whipped up if you're interested. I listed a point value for it as a quality in case someone wanted to allow it at character creation, but it's REALLY expensive because it actually gives the critter stats instead of some mystically arrived at PC version.
Without further ado, I present the SR4 ghoul, ala JBlades: Ghoul (80 Point Quality) Ghouls are metahumans infected with the Krieger strain of the Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV). The virus causes the victim to lose all body hair. The skin becomes a rough, scabrous hide, and the fingers elongate, with the nails hardening into claws. Teeth become sharper and more pronounced, while the eyes develop a white film of cataracts. The transformation destroys the victim’s intellect in some cases, but many ghouls remain quite intelligent. Ghouls feed on the necrotized flesh of metahumans, along with that of other animals. They tend to hunt in packs of anywhere from six to twenty. They live in isolated areas apart from humans and metahumans, but close enough for them to feed on the dead. Graveyards, mortuaries, and illegal chop shops are common ghoul haunts. *B(+4, 5/10[15]) A(-, 1-6[9]) R(+2, 3-8[12]) S(+3, 4-9[12]) C(-2, 1-4[6]) I(+1, 2-7[11]) L(-1, 1-5[8]) W(+2, 3-8[12]) EDG(-, 1-7) ESS(-1, 5) M(1, 1-5 if magically active) Init(-, 5-15[23]) Movement: As metatype. Powers: Dual Natured, Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Smell), Natural Weapon (Claws: DV 4P, AP 0), Sapience Weaknesses: Allergy (Sunlight, Mild), Dietary Requirement (Metahuman Flesh), Reduced Senses (Blind) Notes: Statistics given are for a standard human ghoul; apply metatype attribute modifiers as appropriate. Ghouls may have the Adept, Magician, or Mystic Adept qualities, allowing them to raise Magic up to 5 + initiate grade. *Stats listings are given as follows: First Initial of Stat(modifier, min-max[augmented max]) Krieger Strain of HMHVV This form of the virus is not transmitted in the usual way, but rather is a blood-borne variant. Any time a potential victim’s wound track is filled as a result of wounds inflicted by the natural weapons of someone infected with the Krieger Strain, but the victim lives, the victim must roll to resist infection. The particular mutation of the virus is weak against a robust metahuman immune system, and only when it is weakened by severe injury can the virus take a strong enough hold to initiate the transformation. This is similar as an injection vector toxin, and any modifiers which add to the victim’s dice pool against toxins apply as normal to this roll. Failure to reach the threshold means that the victim is infected and will transform into a ghoul over the next 5 days, a process resembling goblinization. Note that during the transformation, the victim's body ejects all cyberware and bioware, and regenerates based on the original genetic code. All attempts to implant modifications into ghouls are also subsequently rejected by the ghoul's body, though the regenerative powers do not extend beyond this for unknown reasons, and no one has yet done enough research to find answers to the questions raised by this phenomenon. Toxin Stats: Vector: Special (see above), Speed: 1 Week, Power: 5, Effects: Transformation into a ghoul. EDIT: Edited for formatting and spelling, and to tweak a few things because I literally just pulled this off the top of my head based on the critter entry in the BBB. ;) This post has been edited by JBlades: Nov 21 2007, 11:11 AM |
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Nov 21 2007, 11:29 AM
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#15
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
Why? Ghouls aren't really that desirable even before your overly tyranical cyberware restrictions (more on that in a bit). Here's the NPC Ghoul, converted into a PC: Ghoul B: 5/10 A: 1/6 R: 3/8 S: 4/9 C: 1/4 I: 2/7 L: 1/5 W: 3/8 Edg: 1/6 Ess: 5 M: 1/5 Movement: 10/25 Powers: Dual Natured, Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Smell), Natural Weapon (Claws: S/2 + 1), Resistance (+3 dice vs. Disease) Ghouls get the following Negative Qualities and gain no BPs for them (these do not count against the 35 BP limit): Allergy (Sunlight, Mild), Dark Secret (Ghoul), Dietary Requirement (Metahuman Flesh), Reduced Senses (Blind). --- And yes, I just did throw in Disease Resistance (which is in the flavor text but not in the SR4 rules text) and the old "Dark Secret" (which they don't bother to mention for Ghouls but is damned obvious). OK, what do we notice? First off, a Ghoul will kick an Ork's ass. A better Strength, Body, Reaction, Intuition, and Willpower. One higher across the board except Willpower and Reaction which are 2 higher. For that they only pay a Charisma Max reduction and the loss of an Essence Point. Now the exchange rate for even basic bioware to attribute points is 5 Physical or Mental attributes for 1 Essence (at Delta you get ten Physical or Mental Attribute points for 1 Essence). So the fact that a Ghoul gets 7 points of attributes for a lost Essence point and a charisma max reduction isn't really that big of a deal. Seriously, it's kind of like getting some free money and purchasing off-the-rack bioware with it. And while hearing and smell enhancement is nice and all, it probably doesn't balance out being blind. Reading is a little bit better in most instances than being good at wine identification. Claws are worse than guns or swords, and in any case are frequently worse than just not having a weapon at all since they make security freak out and are still outperformed by a holdout pistol or monowhip that is much more concealable. And now we're down to the straight up disadvantages because we've pretty much exhausted the pro- side of the equation. You have to eat human flesh of course, which is actually not that big of deal because shadowrunners tend to have large body counts and piles of shady money. As Hanibelle said in Augmentation, she's pretty sure that DocWagon doesn't keep medical clones of people who cancel their contracts. But holy crap, Dual Nature. You can be attacked by astral creatures at range and you don't come with any astral ranged attacks and you are inherently bad at Magic due to the low Essence. That used to be a flaw that was considered equal to Bad Luck or Uncouth. And people still didn't take it because it was really bad. So seriously, being a Ghoul is a lot like being an Ork with an extra 20 points of negative qualities for free. You could make a very case for Ghoul being a free choice or even paying you BP to select. But sure, let's assume that anyone who wants to play a Ghoul probably has an ace up their sleeve or something and say that it's worth a little more than being an Ork. 25 BP? 30BP? That sounds pretty reasonable. I don't follow your logic for 80 at all.
People who can make a Body + Willpower (5) test are few and far between. You could save time and just say that infection was automatic in the appropriate circumstances. Even a Body and Willpower of 6 average only 4 hits. Also, since it's not a power of the original critter, but merely an actual virus being spread around, why would its success depend upon the Essence of the critter who stabbed you?
There are ghouls with cybernetics in canon. The aforementioned Hanibelle on Jackpoint for example, is a Ghoul with a datajack. If you don't want cybernetic ghouls that's fine, but keep in mind that this represents a pretty major shift from the sourcebooks. -Frank |
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Nov 21 2007, 11:40 AM
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#16
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 263 Joined: 18-October 03 From: Cal Free State Member No.: 5,734 |
Ya, I removed that and changed to a straight toxin resistance test because once I had a chance to think for an extra sec, you're right and it didn't make sense. As to the rest, I came up with 80 because, as you said, a ghoul can straight up kick an average ork's ass. I got the stats from taking human averages of 3 and getting to the critter's stats from there. The ghoul gets a shit-ton of attribute points, and I averaged that out at +8, so 80. I figure the benefits roughly equal the downside (physical combat monster for a bad social problem), so I left it there. As for the cyberware, take a human street samurai, infect them with the virus and let them keep their cyber, and watch them go slaughter dragons as a hobby. Now think twice about that, and take their cyber away. They can still get on Jackpoint using AR or trodes. Plus, if they want to kill dragons they can still be an adept. It's a magical virus reworking and rebuilding your body according to its specifications, and that makes sense to me. Of course the whole thing is a made-up, off-the-cuff house rule anyways, so feel free to rework it as you like! |
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Nov 21 2007, 11:46 AM
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#17
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,838 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,669 |
You've just answere your own problem. Have the Ghoul adjustments be enhancements - they still use the attribute maximums for their native species. In effect, the ghoul process just magically amps up the subject. This means that many pieces of attribute-enhancing cyber or bio is just ineffective for Ghouls. Should still work out fine. |
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Nov 21 2007, 11:47 AM
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#18
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 263 Joined: 18-October 03 From: Cal Free State Member No.: 5,734 |
Ya, I can see that. Could work fine.
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Nov 21 2007, 11:59 AM
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#19
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
I don't actually see how spending an Essence point to get +1 or +2 to several attributes is going to make a street sam fight and kill dragons if they weren't already going to do that.
But in any case, turning it into a straight Toxin Resistance test makes it even worse. Now you are asking characters to get 5 hits on a straight Body test - which is rather unlikely even for a Body 10 Troll. They get to add bonuses for Antivenoms (which is weird, I would expect it to be a disease test that gave bonus dice for antivirals), but they still aren't going to get 5 hits very frequently. Yea, I think I'm going to stick with my own 30 BP version. It seems to work much better. -Frank |
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Nov 21 2007, 12:38 PM
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#20
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,650 Joined: 21-July 07 Member No.: 12,328 |
Doesn't dual nature make it impossible to use goggles or whatever to access AR? I thought dual natured guys couldn't see/interact with AR? (datajack makes sense though)
It's come up before when discussion possession. 80BP ghouls seem like they suck. Sure they are fast and strong and whatever, but really its a game with guns were you shoot things, you interact with people and you sneak around and you get attacked by spirits. Ghouls: Shooting - Well, I don;t see how they can use a smart link without an image link. So they are just never going to cut it as a street sammie style guns dude, because they are just down on dice. No reflex recorders, no nothing. Sneaking: Agility is nothing special, but when it comes to sneaking in plain sight they suck. Claws on your hands through a checkpoint? I'd rather have the monofiliment whip. Interacting: Gimp charisma furthers the sneaking in plain sight problem, and charisma 4 max means that they are average at best. Magic: As frank points out, dual natured, no ranged attacks in astral, astral dudes have ranged attacks, you have a problem. I suppose they are fun in a hulk smash kind of a way, but strength is frankly a big waste of time in SR4 so they just come across as an orc/troll hybrid with the ability to do useful things, like use cybernetic enhancements to be crack shots, removed. I think the only playable archetype would be a kung fu fighting adept, but even then you suck because you are already down a point of essence which the ork has spent getting some sort of IP booster and cyber bits, for cheaper than you can get enough adept powers to do something useful and have multiple IP passes? And whats more, you're stuck using melee weapons, which suck, and you lose the main benift of the kung fu adept which is perfectly concealable weapons from mundane inspection. I suppose you hit even harder than the adept (hell, be a troll, have strength 1 bazillon) but your still not hitting as hard as a monofiliment whip. What DO you see a ghoul PC doing that someone else cannot do better? |
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Nov 21 2007, 01:07 PM
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#21
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,838 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,669 |
Does that really matter? I agree that 80 BP is too much - a 30-point advantage (you still buy race normally) seems right IMO - but there's no reason that ghouls have to have some massive advantage to be viable as PCs. |
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Nov 21 2007, 01:25 PM
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#22
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,650 Joined: 21-July 07 Member No.: 12,328 |
Well, no particularly. But we are looking at game mechanics here, and ideally things should be priced 'fairly' to ensure that people have a schtick that is theres and no wildly outshone by someone else.
So I agree that they don't need a massive advantage, they just need to be atleast as good as say.. an orc. And at 80 points they... are not. |
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Nov 21 2007, 01:30 PM
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#23
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,838 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,669 |
Just to play with that a bit as an advantage, we could assume that some of the above is altered from the baseline 3s. We could also just scrap the above stats and the ghoul from the book and make a template that's true to the flavor and intent of ghouls without caring about the given stats - in effect making a template that you would apply to any metahuman template to get your 'typical' ghoul, but some people demand adherencve to what's in the book, so... So let's start with the physical Attributes. Body gets a big boost followed by Strength and lastly Reflexes. Agilty seems unaffected. OK. We can keep the full values or we can tone them back a bit for those worried about over-the-top Attributes. Let's go with +4 Body, +2 Reaction, +3 Strength for now. With mental Attributes, we've got a -2 to Charisma. Remembering that this is actually going to be a penalty, not merely a reduction to the maximum (ghouls with Intelligence <1 are the savage non-playable types) it's pretty big. There is also a +1 Intutition and a -1 Logic (again, it's really a penalty and Logic <1 is non-playable) and a +2 Willpower. Throw in the -1 Essence and the resulting -1 Magic if applicable. So now we've got the following augmentations: Agility: +0 (just here to be complete) Body: +4 Reflexes: +2 Strength: +3 Charisma: -2 Intuition: +1 Logic: -1 Willpower: +2 Essence/Magic: -1 Overall, that's a nice set of bonuses. Little in cyber can really give the Intution or Willpower bonuses, and the Body bonus is hard to match. Still, you can't exceed your maximums (so a human ghould still can't exceed a body of 9) so additional augmentation is less needed and chances for abuse are lessened. The other stuff all balances out pretty negatively and draws the benefits from the Attributes down. I'd still stick with 25-30 points for a ghoul (on top of whatever metatype you choose) and this will count against your 35 BP limit during character creation. |
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Nov 21 2007, 01:41 PM
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#24
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
Also remember that regardless of what they can do or whether they have any racially exclusive niches, that the character has to be able to fill a niche. Remember, this isn't some tavern in the wilderness that is about to be attacked by goblins - it's a strike force of talented individuals brought together to complete missions of a dubious and illegal nature. People who don't pull their weight have no business being on the team.
Now pulling one's weight can come in many different forms. If you happen to know people who have the info your team needs, that makes you invluable. If you happen to be able to sneak into a building without setting off alarms you can accomplish some portions of a mission. If you can do good legwork, shoot a straight bullet, or provide a getaway car you've got a place in many master plans. But seriously, you've got a character who can't see, who can't go through a ward or a voluntary check point without setting off alarms. He's bad at spellcasting, virtually incapable of ranged combat, not especially suited to the Matrix, a liability in social situations, and... what? Making a Ghoul Character who can contribute to a shadowrunner team is actually exceedingly difficult whether you're paying points for the fact that you're a ghoul or not. Having big numbers in one or more categories does not inherently make a character who is broken or even decent. Behemoths aren't playing characters and wouldn't be even if they came with whipped cream and a cherry. If you can't fit into a target installation, chances are slim that you can help much on any particular mission. --- On a side note: I am openly dubious about adding the Racial Mods of Ghouls to racial mods of other metahumans. There is literally zero precadent for it working like that. There has never been a published metahuman ghoul stat line. There has never been a set of guidelines pblished on how to "add" a 1/4 racial charisma min/max to a 1/5 racial charisma min/max. -Frank |
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Nov 21 2007, 02:44 PM
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#25
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,838 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,669 |
That's simple. As I said, keep the base Attribute limits for your metatype. The ghoul modifiers are just that - modifiers that act like any other augmentation (such as Muscle replacement). BTW, with biosculpting and some of the genetech, your ghoul can bypass many of the problems you mentioned. Cyber - or just camers (on glasses, or whatever) set up for DNI through a datajack could work too. However, this assumes you allow the ghouls to use some cyber, because without it they are pretty screwed. |
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