Re: [BNW] Bargainer Totem: Animator

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

> I have a couple of suggestions for the Animator.  Great job by the way, I
> like it already, I can see it now...a new villain for my party...anyone
> remember those old Chucky and Bride of Chucky movies? Or the puppetmaster?
> Wow, many possibilities...I wonder why the thought of animated dolls and
> toys is so frightening to the public and has been used so many times in
> horror movies?

The Puppetmaster was definitely my inspiration for this one.

> First, why is it a Bargainer totem, and not its own power package?  It is
> different enough that it could just be its own package, and then the
> Bargainers could have it through the use of a Delta totem?

Well it seemed to fall under the realm of "magic" so it seemed most
appropriate as a bargainer totem to me. I don't have any problems if you
wanna make it a delta power (like I'm going to crawl down this T1 line to
stop you :) but that's just what felt right to me.

> Second, I think the delta would need to have some sort of appropriate
> construction related skill (Building: Dolls or Building Marionettes) and
> the level of this skill would be the maximum for any skills / attributes
> for the puppet.

I was trying to keep it relatively simple and I didn't want to have a lot
of additional requirements as that differs largely from the other totems.
Making him have to have a skill and the funds to build the animates would
start to get expensive, so I opted for a simpler approach. Maybe the
skill could be used as a try to make the animates better than average? A
challenging(10) roll lets the Animator add +1 to any stat for every
success. That way it's not required, but it gives an advantage if you put
the points in it.

> Also, I think that having guns and so on might be a little much, I would
> like to hear of some playtests.  I mean, 5 little dolls, all with guns
> blazing, especially with the "Specialist" power, it seems a bit much to me.

That's true, there could be a limit on the damage (1d6+1 per size)? That
way you could have a lot of scrubs doing scrub damage, or one big guy
doing average damage...

> Maybe put some kind of monetary cost on the doll parts?

Again I didn't want to make the totem a big burden skill or monetary wise.
How much does a Marionette arm cost anyway?

> Last comment:  the one shot power seems abusable.  For instance, Its a one
> shot Bomber!, and I can make a size five doll, send it somewhere, and Boom,
> then I can just make another.... all at no significant danger or cost to
> the hero.  Especially if he pre made the dolls and just needed to animate
> them. I'm sure all the guides out there can come up with some kind of
> abusable scenario here...but maybe I am overreacting.

Nah. Should probably scrap that one.

Oh there was another thing I forgot. The Animator can't have more dolls
made then he can animate. Well he can, but he still has to spend the same
time animating them. Basically if one of his animates is destroyed then
whether he has a spare built or not, he has to spend the same time
"imbuing them with life".

 Theo McGuckin -
	"Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a nerf ball"