Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Bhikku]

One of my players wants to make a character with kind of a Jekyll and Hyde effect. In her normal state, she is a brilliant inventor, with her power points invested mainly in the Invent power and perhaps a few extra devices and whatnot. When she gets hurt, she loses her mind in a psychotic rage (she is a supervillain, after all) and just goes sickhouse on anybody she can reach.

We discussed the Gimmick hindrance, but decided that her 'normal' side needs access to superpowers to make the inventor concept work. What we have worked out is using a very large Switchable. She'll have 20 pp to build with (since she took Power Points and is using the Super Karma), and by my understanding of the modifier, if she spends 15 points on her 'inventor' powers, and the remaining 5 on Switchable, she can buy up 15 PP worth of 'berserker' powers. (I realize that the modifier is usually on a power-by-power basis, but in this case it makes sense to group all her powers under a single switch.)

Here's the thing: she doesn't want her character to have control over the switch. What we want is to give her the Berserk Edge, and link the Switchable modifier so that when that Edge activates, it triggers the switch. On the surface, this seems straightforward. However, we're not sure how to make that link work. I think we're inventing a new modifier, but i'm not sure how to price the cost reduction. It doesn't really decrease the character's effectiveness, but it does have the potential to drastically change the tactics of a scenario outside of the player's control.

Should this just reduce the cost of Switchable by a point or two? Or maybe give her some extra points to play with in her switched form that she can't access on purpose? Any suggestions?
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You can't save the world without kicking a few old ladies down the stairs.

[Enno]

It's just a trapping...

Give her the Weakness hindrance, that switches her automatically and uncontrolabe when going Berserk or back.
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There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who know binary and those who don't.

[Zadmar]

There are a couple of problems. Firstly, a "brilliant inventor" is likely to have a high Smarts, so she'll very rarely go berserk. Secondly, if her inventions are based on the Invent power, and her inventions are broken, she won't be able to switch to the berserker powers (as Clint explained here).

Personally I would just use the Gimmick hindrance with the "Two Characters" option. One form is a combat monster built with superpowers, the other is a normal human - they can still be brilliant, and even take Arcane Background (Weird Science), but they don't have any super powers.

[ValhallaGH]

The Smarts thing will be a real problem - unless you go for the Idiot Savant inventor. Brilliant inventions coming from a character with ordinary / below average Smarts. Among other things, this lets you shift some points to Super Skill for the technical skills, and then shift those points to Fighting / Throwing for the bruiser.

I like the idea of using Weakness to make the Switch automatic - alternately, you could slap a custom Uncontrolled modifier on the switchable, probably a -1 effect (freeing up 1 point). When it would be detrimental to switch, or at least really annoying, a benny would be appropriate.


Good luck.

P.S. Zadmar. Arcane Background (Weird Science) Does Not Exist when using the Super Powers Companion. Not for PCs, at any rate.
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"Got a problem? I've got the solution: Rocket Launcher."
"Not against a Servitor."
"... We're all gonna die."

[Bhikku]

[Zadmar]

[Clint]

[Clint]

Oh, and I'd just use a Minor version of the Gimmick Hindrance.

The "normal" form can take AB (Superpowers) but only gets say 60% of the number of Power Points for it (6) and from the Power Points Edge or Super Karma (3), basically like a Minor Leaguer from the SPC.
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Clint Black
Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager

www.peginc.com

[ValhallaGH]

[Bhikku]

An elegant solution. I think this will fit our needs. Thank you, Clint.
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You can't save the world without kicking a few old ladies down the stairs.

[Bhikku]