[BNW] New Quirks/Healer Tricks/Plot Ideas

[Kirk Monsen <munchwolf@yahoo.com>]

So, given that delta powers are inherited when a
person has a near death experience, and given that
they vary in power levels, here are some ideas for
REALLY low power level delta power quirks:

Useless Delta Power (-2/-3 points):  I know that if
your a normal human it's worth the same as if your a
delta point wise.  One big reason I can see why it
doesn't cost anything is that humans still have
potential to become deltas.  Well, with useless delta
power you've lost that chance.  You've gained a delta
power that has no possible use (pretty simple huh?). 
You have all the disadvantages of being a delta (scorn
and ridiculi, need to register, can't get more powers,
etc), with none of the benifits.  Eventually you might
have hope of someday becoming an Alpha (if those rules
are ever released), but most likely you'll just have a
composit of several useless powers.  Examples would
be:
 Speaking and understanding 15 different languages
which no one in THIS galaxy knows.
 Able to dimly glow (but only bright enough to stand
out at night, not enough to be useful for vision).
 Can read the thoughts of a completely random
individual at greater than 100 miles away, but with no
way of knowing who the individual is.
 Can alter the color of excreted bodily fluids
(inspired by Pier Anthony).
 Mostly anything that is just below usefulness of a
power that a Mystery Man character would have.
 This quirk can also be taken with ugly or obvious. 
The reason for the point split is if it's taken alone
it's a -3 quirk.  Taken with obvious or ugly makes it
a -2 quirk (hey, you could claim your delta power is
that you have non-functioning antenna sticking out of
your head, or you're a furry cat/human... it's easier
to think of useless powers that have an obvious quirk
attached, expalining the lower point score).

Next..

Neutered Delta Powers (-1): Somehow your genes just
didn't express themselves fully, or you're a new
unique power package that's weaker than a real one. 
Simply take a power package and 1/2 the power level.
Examples:
 Blaster with no armor and a 5d6+5 blast
 Bouncer with +3 speed/pace/initiative, +1 str
 Flyer with no armor, pace 25
 Goliath with 5 armor, +1 size, +3 str, all
disadvantages
 so on, and so on ... 
other ideas:
 Step above useless power ...
  Has night vision or 360 vision with bug eyes
  Give that antenna a function (like you can pick up
radio channels, even police band)
  Can glow AND use that light to illuminate area

As a rule I'd say Bargainers, Gadgeteers, and Covenant
can NOT be neutered, sorry.


Now for the healer tricks (yes there's a reason this
is all one post instead of several ... wait for it):

First let me say I see healers as a yin/yang type
power.  Healing takes on many forms and can be views
in different lights.  The spiritual view of healing is
that goodness aids the healer in curing a victim.  But
what exactly is curing, but the utter destruction of
another lifeform (hence the yin/yang aspect).  Healers
in BNW though use there knowledge of medicine to speed
up the bodies repair mechanism.  Couldn't they
likewise use their knowledge of medicine to HARM the
body?  Some 'evil' healers can do just that.

Remember all the following tricks are based off the
healer power and require a FULL minute of
concentration to attempt, so therefor they arn't very
useful in combat.  Also, if you're using the 'ranged'
trick I suggested a few days back it will work with
these tricks.

Anesthesia- With this trick the healer can knock a
victim unconcious (but still needs the minute
concentration plus bodily contact).  If the victim
resists then the victim rolls Str verses the healers
medicine.  Each success (of medicine over str) knocks
the target out for one minute.  For unconcious and
non-resisting targets roll an easy medicine test with
each success keeping the target out for 1 more minute.
 Although this trick seems useless (which it probably
is) it allows the healer to keep the victim knocked
out while he performs other 'healing' tricks.  Unlike
other healing tricks, this trick can be used multiple
times, until the healer botches, and then he has to
wait 24 hrs with that particular target.

Cause Disease- Works just like cure disease with the
same target successes for ailments requested
(determined before roll).  This is just an example of
the healer 'aiding' the diseases inside the victim
overcome the victims immune response.

Cause Mental distress - opposite of the cure mental
distress I suggested, with each 2 successes (or maybe
3 successes) being equivilent to a -1 quirk.


I mentioned plastic surgery, which I REALLY REALLY
like, so here's a bit more about it.

Unlike other healing tricks suggested which are either
good or bad, this trick can be used BOTH ways.  A
healer can enhance a subject as well as cripple an
individual with it.  This trick is more than physical
appearance and resembles Tzimisce (or was that
Lasombra) flesh shaping.  Quick note, it is easier to
degrade a being than enhance it, so while penalties
are cumulative, bonuses are not (except to get rid of
penalties).  Ok, that said, each 2 successes can be
used to alter the victim by either physically changing
it's appearance or by increasing/decreasing stats. 
The only stats that can be modified are
size/str/speed.  Also for one roll you cannot have
more stat modifiers than appearance modifiers.  
 So what does this mean in english?  Let's say you get
8 successes.  While you can give the victim 4 physical
alterations (big nose, longer legs, green hair, purple
eyes), you can instead at most give the victim 2
bonuses (or minuses) and 2 physical changes
(representing these bonuses or minuses).  You cannot
just give the victim a +4 speed (that would require 16
successes, trust me).  Likewise, about the not being
cumulative bit, lets say your healer tries it once and
gets the 8 successes.  He gives his victim longer
legs, stronger leg muscles, and a +2 speed.  He then
waits a week (oh, yeah, did I mention that ... don't
worry I will), and tries again.  This time he gets 6
successes.  Well, he cannot improve speed any higher
since he already has achieved a +2 last time (he would
have to get 12 successes to get a +3 speed total), but
can instead modify strenght or size.  2 things to
note, between each attempt (successful or not) a week
must pass by so the body doesn't regect the change
(you get to decide what happens if they don't wait a
week).  Also for each physical change made it's
considered a -1 disadvantage (at 2 changes the
character could be considered ugly, at 3 they're
obvious, at 5 they're VERY obvious, etc).  Finally I
did mention negatives a cumulative, as well as any
other penatiles the GM devises (yes a healer could
seal someones eyes and mouth shut with this), but as
long as the numbers are negative (below 0) any
correction attempts are cumulative.  Example:  Our
luckless hero is maimed by an archrival.  His eyes are
sealed shut, his legs are merged together, his speed
is reduced by 4, and his strength is -2.  Luckily he
has a healer friend who can help.  The first week the
friend gets 6 successes, and can raise strenght to -1,
open his eyes, and heal some of the leg maiming.  Next
week he gets 8, and can heal the strength and raise it
to +1 (but to raise it any high would require 8
successes dedicated to it).  

So does this make some sense? Do people like it?

The reason I tie these ideas together is the Plastic
surgery power compliments the neutered delta power
quirk in creating a new quirk which I call
quasi-delta.  Unfortunately I've run out of time, as
I'm at work, so I will try to finish this later and
mention the plot hook involving quasi-delta (or Quads
as I call em).

See ya in a few

-Munch Wolf

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