I have a concept for a Transformed that I don’t know if it fits as Transformed, but it’s the first Playbook that jumped into my mind when I thought it:
A power nullifier. A very powerful power nullifier. Power is fueled by emotion–his girlfriend kisses his cheek, he’s on a roller coaster, his nemesis ticks him off, and every super within a city block’s radius starts falling from the sky.
He looks normal otherwise, but he would fit the Transformed concept because if he walks into the wanna-be-Doc-Strange district of town, he’ll be chased out with torches and pitchforks while people scream that he’s something that shouldn’t be.
Think the Pariah Gene carriers of “WH40K”.
Eh, I think if you can pass among the mundane populace without problems you’re not really a Transformed. Not being able to have a normal life is a huge part of their identity. Maybe if it was a My Hero Academia setting where a huge majority of the population has powers it could work, but that’s kind of a weird setting for a Masks.
However, massive power that inspires fear and is powered by strong emotions that are barely under control sounds dead on for a Nova.
That’s just my two cents.
Ok, cool. Thanks, man.
With how contextual that is, that doesn’t sound like a Transformed at all. The Transformed has a narrative that they’re all about: look at their Team Moves, their Moment of Truth, their Backstory Questions, and the GM Moves for them… that’s how you find what a playbook is about.
Being warped by a specific neighborhood sounds more like a Custom Move.
James Etheridge thanks man.
Alfred Rudzki so it would be something like a custom Playbook or a specific sub kind of Playbook?
Largely the playbooks are defined by the kind of story you want to tell with the character and less about the powers. However, the power “level” of those stories is usually pretty important because it is hard to really tell those stories with the wrong power level. It works best if you work in one of two ways. Either, find the powers you want and find out which playbooks match that power level or find the story you want to tell and choose the powers on that play book. I have no idea where a power nullifier would fit in power-level wise. but it sounds fun.
Shaun Ramsey yeah, true. Another guy just commented that this kind of power would fit better within the concept of Transformed if the world was something more along the lines of “My Hero Academia”, but ‘regular’ Masks (as Halcyon City’s been defined so far within the books) would have it fit better as a Nova.
I’d find it difficult to balance this power by itself – for example, if you’re in a fight and the ability triggers, what happens to the other PCs? Why isn’t “get the Leech angry so we can end this battle right now and go home” the default strategy for the group?
“I can neutralize powers if I touch someone, but they painfully mutate my body as I store the power, and it never dissipates without leaving some kind of permanent mark” would be an interesting Transformed gimmick. You can stop bad guys, and the price for doing so is to become uglier or weirder. Such a character would be a walking patchwork of mutation or discoloration, both a testament to their heroic acts and a warning that power can come at a price.
Bill Garrett sounds pretty good.
The nova had this problem anyway. Why isn’t the default strategy “let the nova do it” The answer is collateral damage.
Power nullifiers are really hard to write with, I think. Their whole point as a foil is to make the protagonists come up with alternative courses of action when they’re denied their powers.
As a protagonist, that doesn’t make much sense, so either they’re useless or an instant “I win” button.
How do you make them more satisfying?
Look at Rogue. Absorbers are protag-y.
Benjamin Davis here was my try, as Mr. Big describes a heroic angel in his setting. villainsvictorious.blogspot.com – Superheroes of Note: Illumina
She used power drain not as a tactic, but as a strategy for dealing with super-crime. Beat a bad guy, offer him redemption, if he accepted his powers are yours now.
I think Rogue alone shows that they can make interesting protagonists. And Eraserhead from MHA is a good case, too. I’m sure there are others.
Of course, both of those characters have limitations on their abilities; Rogue has to touch someone to steal their powers and has to restrain herself if she doesn’t want to kill them, and Eraserhead can only block somebody’s powers so long as he stares at them, plus it doesn’t work on certain classes of powers. They have to work within their restrictions, and neither is an “I win” button.
“Literally nobody in a square mile area around me can use their superpowers ever” is obviously super lame for the other PCs. But properly thought out, power nullification is not a bad powerset to game with.
And even if it has broader scope than the above examples, is there any really threatening villain who would cease to be threatening if they lost their powers? Darkseid and Queen Bee still have their armies, Bane is still a strategic genius and skilled fighter, Vandal Savage and Morgana le Fey have centuries of knowledge to draw on, and that’s not even getting into the Lex Luthor and Talia Al Ghul types who don’t have powers to begin with. I think ultimately it just changes the circles the heroes run in, like any powerset does.
Annoying powers make me think of the Delinquent.
Daniel Krashin ok that’s a good idea.
Rogue’s notably not a nullifier, but really primarily an energy vampire. She doesn’t just shut off people’s powers, she rips out their life force. Totally different.
This COULD be a pretty good Nova, Possible Starting off with jus uncontrollable Power negation, and then discovering that they have full on Biokinesis.
Another option could be a Doomed with the doomsign to use another playbook’s ability (probably starting with the delinquent’s power negation), Doom rising if you talk about it and you overexert yourself.
I would go with the Doomed as well, the way it is decribed, I think Doomed would be best.
Also, this also allows you to use the nullified powers with the same doomsign. Could well be that you are just a conduit for a powerful being (demon, cosmic power, …) who feeds it by taking away other supers’ powers but if you are willing to bring it even closer it might allow you to use them yourself. The only thing not that easy to put into that concept would be the Doomed’s Sanctuary but since it’s conditional anyway (you have to do certain things to get to it) you might find some way to make it work.