Unified Theory of Powers Checks

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Nathan of the FoS
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

The Giamarga wrote:How do the rules for being Mist-led figure into your unified system Nathan?
Er...I don't know? :P I'd never considered that, and, as Roti says, being Mist-led seems like a rather different thing. You could organize something along similar lines pretty easily, based on "interactions with the Mists" rather than "evil deeds"--the more prolonged and voluntary the interaction, the more likely one is to become Fugued.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Manofevil wrote:
Manofevil wrote:Does this sound like anything anyone would be interested in?
Seriously, Comments on this idea?
Sure, we could do that if people are interested. Go ahead and start a new thread if you want to get the ball rolling, Manofevil.
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Post by Manofevil »

Thanks guys I'm starting her up. :D
Do us a favor Luv, Stick yer 'ead in a bucket a kick it!

So, gentlemen, that's how it is. Until Grissome.... resurfaces, I'm the acting president, and I say starting with this... anniversary festival, we run this city into the ground! :D
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cure
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Post by cure »

To try out Nathan's system I ran the following test:

Imagine an illithid ripping brains from human victims.

Code: Select all

Abomination of violence		          6
against a stranger 		            -2
culturally sanctioned		            -2
			                  Total	   2	Powers Check 2%

Abomination of violence		           6
against a stranger 		             -2
culturally sanctioned		             -2
1 failed powers checks for violence   -1
			                  Total	    1	Powers Check 1%

Abomination of violence	                   6
against a stranger 		             -2
culturally sanctioned		             -2
2 failed powers checks for violence   -3
			              Total	    0	Powers Check 0%
So said illithid fails on average one power check after 25 brains and on average a second power check after a further 50 brains, whereafter the Dark Powers lose interest in its violence.

- - -

Image that to improve its position, said illithid holds its punches in combat that its superior might be slain.

Code: Select all

Atrocity of Betrayal		            5
against a community member	   0
2 failed powers check for violence +2
				   Total	  7	Powers Check 100%
This yields it an automatically failed power check.

Subsequently it deliberately botches the process for returning the brain of slain comrade back to the the elder brain.

Code: Select all

Act of Ultimate Darkness of betrayal  7
against a community member	     0
1 failed powers check for betrayal    -1
2 failed powers check for violence   +2
				   Total	    9	Powers Check 100%
This yeilds it a second automatically failed power check and gets its demoted to tending to the thralls with a stern warning.

- - -

Its mistreatment of the thralls is further violence ignored by the Dark Powers.

- - -

None of its psiconic powers rises to the level of Black Magic so it makes no progress on that front.

- - -

Cursing its fate, it starts taking the name of Ilsensine in vain.

Code: Select all

Trepass of Blasphemy                                    1
against own religion                                       0
4 failed powers check for violence & betrayal +4
				                    Total	  5	Powers Check 16%

Trepass of Blasphemy                                    1
against own religion                                       0
1 failed powers check for blasphemy              -1
4 failed powers check for violence & betrayal +4
				                    Total	  4	Powers Check 8%
After doing so roughly 10 times, it has failed a further two powers checks, for a total of 6 in three categories, and is made a dark lord!

That is probably not the result we should be looking for. The betrayals in question are not particularly extraordinary and would be ordinary in neutral evil or chaotic evil communities, to say nothing of the Nine Hells itself.
Last edited by cure on Sat May 30, 2009 9:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by cure »

Continuing with the illithid theme, how does the system fair with an elder brain?

Imagine an elder brain freshly brought into existence (however that happens since no one knows). First it spreads the lie that consciousness of those illithids whose brains are delivered to it after their death retain their consciousness in it.

Code: Select all

Offence of betrayal             	+2
Against family		0
		Total	2	Powers Check 2%
Of every elder brain that spread this lie roughly 1 in 50 would attract the dire interest of the Dark Powers.

An elder brain unfortunate to have attracted the dire attention of the Dark Powers sets about having brains harvested for its personal consumption.

Code: Select all

Abomination of violence     	 6
against a stranger       		-2
culturally sanctioned      		-2
1 failed powers check for betrayal	+1
         Total   3   Powers Check 4%

Abomination of violence      	6
against a stranger       		-2
culturally sanctioned      		-2
1 failed powers check for betrayal	+1
1 failed powers checks for violence	-1
         			Total	2   Powers Check 2%

Abomination of violence      	6
against a stranger       		-2
culturally sanctioned      		-2
1 failed powers check for betrayal	+1
2 failed powers checks for violence	-3
			Total	0   Powers Check 0%
So the elder brain on average fails a second powers check after 13 brains and on average fails a third powers check after a further 25 brains, whereafter the Dark Powers lose interest in its violence.

The same elder brain engages in Dark Magic and in particular has an addiction for Assimulate psiconic power.

Code: Select all

Abomination of Black magic			6
culturally sanctioned         				-2
3 failed powers checks for betrayal & violence	+3
        				 	Total	7   Powers Check 100%
 
Abomination  of Black magic         			6
culturally sanctioned         				-2
3 failed powers checks for betrayal & violence	+3
1 failed powers check for black magic 		-1
         					Total      6   Powers Check 32%

Abomination of Black magic         			6
culturally sanctioned         				-2
3 failed powers checks for betrayal & violence	+3
2 failed powers check for black magic 		-3
				         	Total      4  Powers Check 8%

Abomination of Black magic         			6
culturally sanctioned         				-2
3 failed powers checks for betrayal & violence	+3
2 failed powers check for black magic 		-5
				         	Total      2  Powers Check 2%
So the elder brain fails a fourth powers check after absorbing 1 victims, on averege a fifth powers check after absorbing a further 2 victims, on average a sixth powers check after absorbing a further 7 victims, and on average a seventh powers check after absording a further 25 victims.

Which meets the requirements of darklordship over a pocket domain.
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Post by brilliantlight »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:
The Giamarga wrote:Can you give another example with a Darklord/Mist Horror or Pocket Domain Lord?
Let's see...the Mist Horror the Telling Man begins as a murderer who delights in tormenting Innocents. This racks up Powers Checks pretty quickly, of course, but only in the Violence category. After failing two Powers Checks for murders, each subsequent murder counts as an Abomination (6), possibly rising to 7 if the victim's agony is prolonged. However, he targets Innocents by preference, giving a +1 to each murder. Let's say each murder is at 7. After failing two checks in the Violence category he gets a -3 to subsequent checks, putting each murder at the Enormity level (4), with an 8% chance of failure. After failing the third check, each murder on this plan is an Offence, with a 2% chance of failure. It will take a while, probably, but with determination and/or bad luck the Dark Powers will snaffle him for good. Because he doesn't meet the "diversity requirement" which would make him interesting or complex enough for a domain, he becomes a Mist Horror.

What Lemot Sediam Juste really likes is gaslighting people and getting them to turn on each other, but his heart's desire is to be known as the greatest playwright of the age. He murdered a rival and made a deal with dark powers for his gifts; but his principle means of getting ahead has been by undercutting other rivals, ruining reputations or arranging for their productions to fail. His various activities cause him to fail one check in Violence, one in Black Magic, and three in Betrayal.

Fed up with his troupe, who he blames for failing to carry out his scripts as they should, he determines to use the magic pen he got from his demonic tutor to write a tragedy in his fellow-actors' blood, using illusion and stage magic to really kill them. This is a murderous Betrayal of his closest friends (7), with the assistance of Black Magic (+1) and two powers checks from other categories (+2), set against his three previous Betrayals (-5). The total is 5--an Atrocity with a 16% chance of failure. He fails the check. 4 failed checks in one category is really hard to do and argues against a truly interesting and multi-dimensional villain, but he's been willing to deal with the devil and to get his own hands bloody; he gets a domain, but not a full, complex one, because his psychological bent to evil is largely limited to Betrayal.
Where do you get the made pact with devils from?It certainly wasn't from the original write up since I have that. I got a bunch of old ravenloft Pazio when they sold them real cheap. The important thing of darklords not their stats. You can convert them easily enough.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

brilliantlight wrote: Where do you get the made pact with devils from?It certainly wasn't from the original write up since I have that. I got a bunch of old ravenloft Pazio when they sold them real cheap. The important thing of darklords not their stats. You can convert them easily enough.
No, it's not a canon part of Juste's fall; I just put it in there to illustrate how the system is supposed to work. (It also seemed like an appropriate detail for the character, but it's purely my invention.)
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Post by brilliantlight »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:
brilliantlight wrote: Where do you get the made pact with devils from?It certainly wasn't from the original write up since I have that. I got a bunch of old ravenloft Pazio when they sold them real cheap. The important thing of darklords not their stats. You can convert them easily enough.
No, it's not a canon part of Juste's fall; I just put it in there to illustrate how the system is supposed to work. (It also seemed like an appropriate detail for the character, but it's purely my invention.)
OK, that makes sense. Your write up is much better than canon then.
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Re: Unified Theory of Powers Checks

Post by tomokaicho »

Did this ever appear in QtR? I don't remember it. Perhaps a brushed up version of this can go in the next QtR.
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