From: alvalent@husc9.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: champs: immortal
Date: 17 Apr 92 17:20:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Apr17.132055.11223
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Just a thought.  It has dawned on me that the aforementioned Summoning form
of immortality could be SUPPRESSed arguably.  This means that Heracles' life
force is tied to Olympus, and may go there when his form is slain, only to
recreate his form later.  This could mean that you could banish our young
strapping stud back to the mountain.  Hmm...

Or you could just say that where his body is lying is now his "home" and
so suppress won't send him anywhere.



My thought is to use Duplication.  In this case you put a SEVERE limit on
Duplication saying that the Duplicate (which presumably you make without
conscious effort back on Olympus) must remain incorporeal and unconscious
(a life force/soul without form) until you die at which time it may take
form and your body vanishes, becoming the new insubstantial form.  Of course,
you would have lost the points you paid for Duplication, and have to pay for
them again, but this would be a play balancing factor, 'cause even if you
tell the player "OK, you're character's immortal, so you can owe me those
XPs a pretend you have the power," the player knows that the next 20 XPs he
earns will slip right through his finger tips for having gotten himself killed.

Somehow (although I think the Summon idea is rather neat) feel that making
an exact duplicate of yourself is better done with Duplication than with 
Summoning, although I could easily argue the other point of view.

If you give the player a +2 limit for his noncorporeal duplicate (I don't 
know if it's even worth +1, but just for the sake of argument), he has a 200
pt. character, and he buys 2 duplicates.  So that's 200*(2/5) + 200*(1/5)
Divide that by your limitation and you get 40 points.  Just about a starting
character.  If one of his 3 forms dies, another pops up.  He PERMANENTLY loses
one of those forms until he pays points again, but it is actually cheaper
to buy 2 extra duplicates in the long run, because you're losing only

200*(1/5)   / 3 = 13 points 

Instead of

200*(1/5)  /3  = 27 points if you had only one duplicate and lost the points
for your primary duplicate as the first duplicate is more expensive than
subsequent ones.

Using this method, the character has to add about 1 point to his Duplication
power for every 100 pts. he adds to his base character just to have the
immortality effect.  Plus 13+ points every time he gets nailed.  That'll
discourage him from playing like a moron.


I might suggest placing this power in a power framework, an EC--Immortality

Although this is up to the GM and you may or may not want to allow your 
player the point break although I think there is a rationale suitable to
group this powers.


30 pts. Regeneration
30 pts. Life Support
?? pts. Duplication

plus other powers common to all Olympians



Of course you should probably add outside the EC a really expensive contact
to your dad, Zeus, and a few favors from him and the other Olympians.  It
costs a goodly number of points to play this guy in the long run, but he
can pull of some REALLY heroic feats.

Your duplicates could either camp out on Olympus, or alternately follow you
around if you want instantaneous "Phoenix-style" rejuvenation after a couple
o' minutes.



Lee Valentine
alvalent@husc.harvard.edu