[DL] New Wildman powers

["Leybourne, Brian" <Brian.Leybourne@airnz.co.nz>]

Hi all.

I know at least a couple of you out there are using Wildman characters in
your games, so I thought you might be interested in four new powers Max and
I made up.

If you want to see the full text of the Wildman character, check out
http://freespace.virgin.net/max.trebilcock/deadlands/ddwildman.htm (although
it wont have these four new powers until Max adds them, probably in a day or
two's time).

Brian.

--

The Rattlers' Strike; TN Varies; Compensation: Special

The Wildman has learned the blessing of speed from the "great desert
hunter", and may call on the Snake Spirit to augment his Nimbleness,
Deftness or Quickness Traits or alternately any Aptitude within these
Traits. 

The difficulty of the activation roll depends on what effect the Wildman is
requesting.

To improve the die type of her Nimbleness, Quickness or Deftness is TN 11
To improve the co-ordination of her Nimbleness, Quickness or Deftness is TN
7
To improve the trait level of a specific trait within Nimbleness, Quickness
or Deftness (such as Fightin': Brawling) is TN 5

Success on the activation roll grants a +1 to the chosen Trait or Aptitude
(either die type or number of dice, depending on what the Wildman called
for), with an additional +1 per raise achieved. It should be noted that only
one trait or aptitude can be influenced by The Rattlers' Strike at a time.
The maximum bonus that can be gained is +5.

This power lasts 10 minutes plus 10 minutes per raise.

Compensation Cost:

Trait Die type Increase:	4 + 1 per bonus level granted (i.e. Minimum
is 5, Maximum is 9)
Trait co-ordination increase: 2 + 1 per bonus level granted.
Aptitude Increase: 1 + 1 per bonus level granted.

---
The black magician grinned as the old man walked toward him with his knife.
The servant of the Reckoners had done his homework well - this old man was
nothing but an arthritic ruin, slow and clumsy, and certainly no match for
the dark powers his masters had granted him.

To prolong the fun, he allowed the old man to walk right up to him, and
waited for the first ineffectual swing of the knife.

Before he could blink, the elderly Wildman had thrust the knife deep into
his bowel; two.. three.. four times, and across his throat as he opened his
mouth to scream.

As he collapsed to the floor, and the world began to turn grey, he knew
fear. His masters would be most displeased with him for this blunder.
---

Balance of Nature; TN Varies; Compensation: Special

Wildmen are by nature finely attuned to the wild, and as such some of them
can sense the presence of that which is un- or supernatural and therefore
does not fit into Natures balance.

Balance of Nature works a little differently from many of the other Wildman
powers. The Wildman rolls his Spirit: Wildman Aptitude, and checks on the
table below what information he has gathered from his usage of this ability.
The Wildman has no control over what he finds, so if for example he was
attempting to locate a nearby coven of witches and rolled a 13 he would pick
up everything within the surrounding area and have to pay the full
Compensation (Its an all or nothing deal), however, if there is nothing to
be detected above a certain level, the power (and thus cost) will cap at
that level. In other words, if the above mentioned Coven of Witches (a
Medium or Large source depending on the marshals discretion) was the only
un-natural/supernatural presence in the area, the Wildman would only pay the
2 or 3 compensation for that information, rather than the full compensation
for the roll of 13.

This power will reveal the direction and distance to the source of the
presence, and an indication as to what 'level' of power it is (Minor,
Medium, Large, etc). This power takes 10 minutes to activate, and gives a
snapshot view as to the information given (the coven of witches could move
after the power was used, and the Wildman would only know where they had
been when he used the power, not where they had moved to. In this instance,
he would have to use it again to know their new location).

The range of this ability is one mile for every point the Wildman has  in
his Spirit: Wildman trait.

Presence; TN; Compensation.

Minor Source (Terror Rating 3); 3; 1
Medium Source (Arcane B/grnds,  Black Magic, Terror Rating 5); 5; 2
Large Source (Terror Rating 7); 7; 3
Major Source (Terror Rating 9); 9; 5
Massive Source (Terror Rating 11); 11; 7
Anything and Everything within area of effect; 13; 9

For this power alone, the Fear Level actually aids the Wildman, subtracting
from the overall TN.

---
"Let's face it - we've been looking for the "werewolf" these villagers said
they saw for weeks. It's just not here!" complained the priest.

"But I sensed that something powerful and unnatural was amiss near the
village - it has to be here somewhere." replied the cowboy. "Ralf, my horse,
looks skittish too."

"Well, use that heathen power again, and let's find it!" snapped the priest

Sighing, the cowboy Wildman squatted down beside the priest, concentrating
hard and sending his senses out to probe the nearby wilderness, as they both
stared into the fire.

"That's odd," said the Wildman eventually, "I'm sensing it less than 5 feet
away, due South, which would be right behind us..."

It took several minutes for the screams to stop echoing from the canyon
walls.
---

Slumber of the Grizzly; TN 7; Compensation: 1 per day/week

Father Bear has the right idea, if hurt or exposed to the elements he digs
in, curls up and sleeps his way through the problem. With this power the
Wildman can enter a state of hibernation in which he heals damage faster, is
resistant to the elements and his ageing slows considerably.

The Wildman may choose to enter a deep or a mild hibernation with this
ability. While in a mild hibernation, the Wildman has an effective armour
rating of 2 against the natural elements (Sunstroke, Frost Bite, etc), and
he automatically heals one wound level in each location per day of the
hibernation. The compensation cost is 1 per day. Note that a day is a full
24 hour period.

A deep hibernation slows the Wildman's bodily processes down considerably
more. While in such a sleep, he has an effective armour rating of 5 against
natural elements, and 2 against artificial ones (gunshots for example). He
will automatically heal one wound in each location once per week, but will
only generate one compensation point per week in the hibernation state.
Additionally, the Wildman will only age one day for each week in this state.

The Activation Test is actually made at the end of the sleep, if the roll is
successful, then the Wildman has hibernated for the allotted time chosen
when the power was activated. If the roll is failed, the Wildman has slept
but gained nothing out of the bargain (no healing). 

The Wildman will come out of the hibernation ravenous and groggy. He is at
-3 to all actions until he gets a substantial meal into himself.

In a mild hibernation, the Wildman is still mildly aware of his surroundings
- he may make a Cognition roll against a difficulty of (5 + the number of
days into the hibernation he is) to wake up if any external stimuli occurs
(someone enters the room he is in, talks to him, shoots him, etc). In a deep
hibernation, only pain will wake a Wildman (such as the pain from a
gunshot), although he must still make the roll as outlined above to become
conscious.

If the Wildman elects to go into hibernation for more than 9 days (mild) or
weeks (deep), then when he awakens he must make a Spirit: Wildman roll
against a difficulty of (7 + the number of days/weeks over 9) or gain the
resulting compensation trait permanently.

---
"Pa wont let me see, but Ma said there's this guy hiding under the barn
whose been asleep since Pa found him two weeks ago. Pa even stuck him with a
stick but he didn't wake up or nothin'.

Ma reckons he's sick or something, but Pa says he's cursed. He's afraid to
go back down there though. Maybe the guy'll wake up one day."
---

The Hunters Offering; TN 9; Compensation: 1

An old Indian fable tells that the Animal Spirits can be appeased should one
of their earthly children be taken out of necessity. Through his dealings
with the Animal and Nature spirits, the Wildman has learned the true meaning
of this Pact. 

To activate this power, the Wildman must go hunting, and bring down an
animal one would traditionally kill for food (deer, for example). This hunt
must be performed with traditional or natural weapons (no shootin' irons,
boys), and the Wildman may not use any of his other Wildman abilities to
assist him in the hunt. After he has brought his prey down he utters a
prayer over the carcass, first to the animal spirits of the fallen prey, and
secondly to the spirits of a predator (such as the wolf spirit), thus
completing the natural cycle.

Finally, the Wildman must clean and prepare the carcass for its journey to
the spirit world, and remove and eat the heart of the creature. The player
should make a Spirit: Wildman roll, against the TN shown above. If
successful, the Spirits are appeased, as the Wildman watches the carcass be
stripped by invisible animals. When the grizzly feast finished, a thin shred
of meat will be left. This is the Wildmans reward for a hunt well performed,
and is called an offering. This offering may be kept and consumed before any
future Power is used. For every success and raise on the activation roll for
The Hunters Offering, the compensation cost of the power used immediately
following the consumption of the meat will be reduced by 1 (to a minimum of
1). This means you will need to keep track of how many compensation points
each offering is 'worth'. 

A Wildman may carry as many of these offerings as his Spirit: Wildman trait
level. Only one offering may be consumed before a power is attempted, and
the entire piece must be eaten (so an offering that was created with three
raises on The Hunters Offering activation roll, and is thus worth -4
compensation cost for another power cannot be partially consumed to reduce a
Compensation 3 power, but the whole offering would have to be consumed, and
the cost of the new power would still only reduce to 1).

If the activation roll for this power is failed, the carcass is stripped,
but the Wildman receives no benefit for it.

---
"He spends all day hunting that buck, and when he finally brings it down,
does he offer me any of the meat? Like hell he does. He cuts out the heart -
the toughest part on a fresh young buck - and stuffs it in his mouth!
Watching him chewing on the raw heart with blood running down his chin is
making me queasy, so I wander off for some fresh air.

I get back five minutes later, and bugger me if he hasn't eat the whole
bloody buck himself, all 'cept this straggly strip o' meat.

And he wont even let me eat that!

Selfish bastard."
---

.-->
"The Web brings people together because no matter what kind of a 
twisted sexual mutant you happen to be, you've got millions of pals 
out there. Type in 'Find people who have sex with goats that are on 
fire' and the computer will say, 'Specify type of goat.'"

Brian Leybourne
brian.leybourne@airnz.co.nz
bleybourne@hotmail.com
_____________________________________________________________________
CAUTION - This message may contain privileged and confidential 
information intended only for the use of the addressee named above.
If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby 
notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or reproduction 
of this message is prohibited. If you have received this message in 
error please notify Air New Zealand immediately. Any views expressed 
in this message are those of the individual sender and may not 
necessarily reflect the views of Air New Zealand.
_____________________________________________________________________