Legendary Qualities, orrrrr....Epic level feats? (don`t hit me!) Options

[Pollux710]

soooo i keep thinking about houseruling in qualities that allow long term toons to be that much better, like a quality that allows you to not have to split your dice pool while dual wielding. these would be able to be chosen at something like 100+ karma intervals. it just seems to me that current bp and karma rules seem weak even over the long term. too much?

[Draco18s]

Go pick up a copy of Scion.

[Machiavelli]

I like the idea. ^^

[jaellot]

Would defintely have a place in the more cinematic setting offered, too. Or under those rules, what ever it is...

[Pollux710]

I'll provide a list for review over the course of the weekend then, IF I can squeeze sometime in between work and school. I'll also check out Scion to see what that is all about, sounds a bit like Exalted but in the modern eras.

[Draco18s]

Scion (in one line) is:

"Your the son of a god. How does that make you feel?"

It ranges from Hero (a little above ShadowRun) to Demigod (Hercules) to God (Zeus).

If we assume that the karam to exp exchange is 1:1* (its pretty close from what I remember--i.e. similar abilities costing about the same) then it takes about 300 karma go "level up" from Hero to Demigod (but that 300 gets you jack squat except allowing you to purchase Newer and Better powers).

Whole campaigns can be run in just one of the three levels (each has their own core book). Though a friend of mine did "Hero to God in 11 weeks." He was lobbing out exp in the hundreds after every session.

And yes, they blew up the earth by the end of it.

*Or it was 1:2 or 1:5 and I did some equivalence math at the time to say that "X karma is Y exp" and forgot what X and Y were.

[toturi]

Whole campaigns can be run in just one of the three levels (each has their own core book). Though a friend of mine did "Hero to God in 11 weeks." He was lobbing out exp in the hundreds after every session.

He must have had a very generous ST then.

[Draco18s]

He must have had a very generous ST then.

They spent about 3-4 weeks as Hero, then forced "you're demigods now" for free.

And yes, he was very generous with exp, that was the point.

It was one of the most epic RPGs I ever witnessed, as each of the scions was the son of a different god...from different pantheons (IIRC all the players and characters were male). So we had a son of Baron Samedi, a son of Zeus, etc. (I don't remember all of them). Our "strait man" player's character had a familiar that the GM decided was the drunkest, most violent, womanizing raven ever, just to play with the player. The party walked in on the bird eating a steak with a fork and a knife.

Also all of the players ended up fathering a child (with a titan or another god) by the end of the game.

The "strait man" ended up with Epic Manipulation at the end, so sometime before Ragnarok he used it. "If my friends end up destroying the world, I want to be the first one back when it restarts."

And yes, his friends destroyed the world. They started duking it out with God.* I forget the exact things that happened, but one Epic was countered with another and eventually they ended up taking out the entirety of existence. Aside from Epic Manipulation, someone elsed used The Way (immune to the need to travel) to "Be someplace safe" (yes, The Way can do that. You can get to universes defined only by the number 8 if you really want to) and took everyone else with until the universe restarted.

After the fireworks the players started their own pantheon and designed their heavenly realm.

*The Christian god, which the GM added to the game. He had a whole pantheon too, the "burning bush" God wasn't the same as the "Adam and Eve" creation God, etc.

[Pollux710]

so, ill have to take a look at scion, if only to get some kind of inspiration. i seem to be having trouble coming up with viable qualities.

[Draco18s]

so, ill have to take a look at scion, if only to get some kind of inspiration. i seem to be having trouble coming up with viable qualities.

Mind, Scion godpowers won't function right in ShadowRun. We're talking "call down lightning," "be invincible," "lift busses," "fly," and "teleport" level powers.

And using them tends to get you followers (which are an inconvenience at best).

What I was originally suggesting was that you should look into starting a Scion game, as it has that level of power creep you're looking for (if you're running as heros and someone decides that they don't like their advancement choices they can--after a while--ascend to godhood. Literally).

[Mickle5125]

And using them tends to get you followers (which are an inconvenience at best).

Unless, of course, you're running in LA. Then followers are AWESOME!

[Cheops]

Couldn't you just adapt Street Cred, Notoriety, and Public Awareness for this? They are the most redeeming features of SR4 so why not take advantage of them.

Something like spend 2 dice of Street Cred to reduce penalties by 1. Then just refresh those pools when Edge refreshes and give the option of getting a SC/N/PA die back instead of Edge on a Critical Success.

[WyldKnight]

Try looking at some of the more basic DnD feats, they could give you nice plan to work with. Epic runner qualities could be stuff like having a TM who could completely sever himself from his meat body, a gunslinger who can infuse his bullets with his emotions (would probably need to be taught this by someone) to allow ranged will attacks against spirits because when you really start getting up there they become even more of an issue, riggers are able to build their own more out there vehicles, faces gain an almost supernatural ability to blend in or stand out from a crowd.

Is this the basic idea of what you're looking for?

[Pollux710]

Try looking at some of the more basic DnD feats, they could give you nice plan to work with. Epic runner qualities could be stuff like having a TM who could completely sever himself from his meat body, a gunslinger who can infuse his bullets with his emotions (would probably need to be taught this by someone) to allow ranged will attacks against spirits because when you really start getting up there they become even more of an issue, riggers are able to build their own more out there vehicles, faces gain an almost supernatural ability to blend in or stand out from a crowd.

Is this the basic idea of what you're looking for?

basically yes, reducing penalties and enhancing bonuses to make veteran runners truly spectacular. like increasing the attribute max for chromey toons, reducing hacking penalties for veteran hackers, etc.

[Eimi]

Bear in mind, Scion has some pretty broken mechanics. Some would say a pretty broken overall system.

Just something to consider when raiding them for inspiration.

[jaellot]

basically yes, reducing penalties and enhancing bonuses to make veteran runners truly spectacular. like increasing the attribute max for chromey toons, reducing hacking penalties for veteran hackers, etc.

Might could look at some of the Talents from Earthdawn, too. It's been a couple years since I cracked open one of the books, but while some did rather crazy things, others not so much.

I keep wanting to take some of the talents and turn them into adepts powers. Think it would be rather neat...

[Yerameyahu]

Aren't high-karma characters already spectacular? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Just add more karma, and start with Mystic Adept (of course).

[Draco18s]

Bear in mind, Scion has some pretty broken mechanics. Some would say a pretty broken overall system.

Its one of the few games where an in-party fight can destroy the world.

PC1: "I use Epic Chaos! Take that!"

PC2: "Well, the only thing that counters an epic is another epic. I use The Way"

GM: "Now there's chaos everywhere. Good job.

[Hagga]

Mages cannibalizing their own magic to permenantly ignore background counts and mana ebbs/voids. Cyberzombies that no longer cark it at the first sign of a background count, and have harnessed their own nasty, nasty astral hazing for a variety of terrible effects. Swords for the street samurai that use.. well, not initiate grade, but willpower, as the armour piercing value and ignore immunity to normal weapons - or he somehow gains the ability to invest that in any weapon he uses. Faces so charismatic that a bit of a chat can literally alter reality in small, subtle ways. Cyborgs without a brain case to worry about, only a chip. And a suspicious austrian accent.

Basically, anything that makes you think "AWESOME" - in all caps, of course - and sounds like it could come out of a movie, or Warhammer 40000.

[Yerameyahu]

That's not a cyborg, it's a Pilot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Jareth Valar]

Basically, anything that makes you think "AWESOME" - in all caps, of course - and sounds like it could come out of a movie, or Warhammer 40000.

he...he..Funny that you should mention that..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Kesendeja]

I personally like the idea. I have never even looked at Scion so mine comes from things I wish my character could do.

How does this sound for an epic summoning ability. Give them the ability to summon spirits outside of their tradition. I was thinking of 3, which is about half again what they can do normally.

[Kesendeja]

Please tell me I didn't kill this thread.

On the other hand, an epic quality for a mage could simply be a second tradition. They receive the benefit of incorporating a second tradition into their own. This includes special benefits and spirits. It also represents how a mages views on magic can grow with time.

[jakephillips]

Sounds like fun for a more epic game.

[Kesendeja]

Let's just say ours has that potential. So far we have a little Stargate thrown in the mix, with a dose of Warhammer (both fantasy and 40K) and now thanks to a malfunctioning gate caught sight of earth's future. It's called RIFTS.

Overall story arch is to stop the Rifts, and prevent the horrors from invading in mass. We've got a few more years of play before we're ready for that.