New Achilles Heel

[taalismn]

Is there an Achilles Heel for a character who survives by having sponsors pay for him or her to do their superhero gig? Just wondering.

I'd consider that role-playing, with the GM ideally limiting the resources and money the PC(s) have access to.
It MIGHT be an Achilles Heel if the PC's actual power activation is dependent on a person voluntarily putting money into them(the PC has a coin slot in their person, or the power armor has a credit card reader built into it)...I believe somebody already made a power for it(try searching for 'Coin-Operated' in your Vault).

[dragon_blaze_99]

Is there an Achilles Heel for a character who survives by having sponsors pay for him or her to do their superhero gig? Just wondering.

do but you could modify the one I have about getting the power from a god or supernatural being...if you wanted.....

[dragon_blaze_99]

168. Achilles Heel: Sanguine Magic

Blood flow magic the character must be a spell caster or and psionic to have this flaw. The character requires the blood to flow from his or her own body to access their PPE or ISP. The cut creating the blood flow does not have to be fine and precise, or self-inflicted, but those things do help. Damage taken from an attack by another is doubled, and that is the amount of the characters PPE or ISP pool that is unlocked EG: The character takes 25 damage, they can now access 50 PPE or ISP; but not over their maximum amount. However, fine precise self-inflicted cuts made with an athame, or ceremonial dagger, or personal special razor blade (that the character has owner and used for no less than 1 year) will open up ten times the damage of the characters PPE/ISP pool. EG: 6 points of damage from such an item will open up 60 PPE/ISP from the characters point pool.
Example: Joe has 150 PPE, with his athame he does 10 points of damage to himself in the first round of combat, using his first action gaining access to 100 of his 150 PPE. Then he takes 30 damage from action; he can now call on his full pool but not the extra 10 points that damage taken would have allowed.

The fatal flaw other than taking damage to gain access to spell or psionic powers, the character must spend an action to use his or her athame, and will leave a smell of blood that some superhuman, animal and demons could track.

[taalismn]

168. Achilles Heel: Sanguine Magic

Blood flow magic the character must be a spell caster or and psionic to have this flaw. The character requires the blood to flow from his or her own body to access their PPE or ISP. The cut creating the blood flow does not have to be fine and precise, or self-inflicted, but those things do help. Damage taken from an attack by another is doubled, and that is the amount of the characters PPE or ISP pool that is unlocked EG: The character takes 25 damage, they can now access 50 PPE or ISP; but not over their maximum amount. However, fine precise self-inflicted cuts made with an athame, or ceremonial dagger, or personal special razor blade (that the character has owner and used for no less than 1 year) will open up ten times the damage of the characters PPE/ISP pool. EG: 6 points of damage from such an item will open up 60 PPE/ISP from the characters point pool.
Example: Joe has 150 PPE, with his athame he does 10 points of damage to himself in the first round of combat, using his first action gaining access to 100 of his 150 PPE. Then he takes 30 damage from action; he can now call on his full pool but not the extra 10 points that damage taken would have allowed.

The fatal flaw other than taking damage to gain access to spell or psionic powers, the character must spend an action to use his or her athame, and will leave a smell of blood that some superhuman, animal and demons could track.

Ouch...self blood-sacrifice. Yeah, I can see it, especially coming from universes/regions where there's little ambient PPE, or from a family or personal background that's been cursed in an effort to restrict members' magic use(or a deteriorating attempt to lock them altogether).

[dragon_blaze_99]

169. Achilles Heel: Dullahan
The Dullahan (pronounced DOOL-a-HAN) - also referred to as the Headless Horseman - is a type of spirit or fairy originating from Irish folklore. This sinister being appears as a man or a woman riding upon a black horse, but the rider has no head upon their shoulders. Typically, the Dullahan carries its head under its arm; the head appears dead and rotten with a demonic grin spread across its face.

This is a five-fold flaw
1. Horror factor the headless horseman has a aura of do to the long history of folk tales and movies, HF 10 + 1D4 +1 at 3,6 and 9 as the head rots
2. The head is susceptible to damage reducing the heads AR by 7 points compared to the body or to 5 it also takes 50% more damage when attacked (-3 strike small target) like all beings destroying the head kills the character
3. The character must carry the head around with him, it is still how he see’s and hears meaning that putting in in a beg blinds him etc.
4. If some one takes the characters head away from the character this powers fade at 10% per 50’ of distance at 500’ the dullahan’s power is reduces by 99% and stays that way until the head is returned for and held for 30 minutes
5. The character loses all save vs psionic attacks (just dice rolls) if the psychic is physically touching the characters head.

[Stone Gargoyle]

169. Achilles Heel: Dullahan
The Dullahan (pronounced DOOL-a-HAN) - also referred to as the Headless Horseman - is a type of spirit or fairy originating from Irish folklore. This sinister being appears as a man or a woman riding upon a black horse, but the rider has no head upon their shoulders. Typically, the Dullahan carries its head under its arm; the head appears dead and rotten with a demonic grin spread across its face.

This is a five-fold flaw
1. Horror factor the headless horseman has an aura of due to the long history of folk tales and movies, HF 10 + 1D4 +1 at 3,6 and 9 as the head rots
2. The head is susceptible to damage reducing the heads AR by 7 points compared to the body or to 5 it also takes 50% more damage when attacked (-3 strike small target) like all beings destroying the head kills the character.
3. The character must carry the head around with him, it is still how he see’s and hears meaning that putting it in a bag blinds him, etc.
4. If some one takes the character's head away from the character, his powers fade at 10% per 50’ of distance; at 500’ the dullahan’s power is reduces by 99% and stays that way until the head is returned for and held for 30 minutes.
5. The character loses all save vs psionic attacks (just dice rolls) if the psychic is physically touching the character's head.

You're not really clear on this. Are you saying the character's flaw is that he (or she) is a headless horseman? Seems like it might have benefits as well.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Been working with these lately and decided to read back. Give my thoughts on the ones here.

First two pages.

how does this look


1.Weak Spot: Literally an Achilles heel
one place on the mega's body is weak regardless of super powers.
If some hit in just the right spot, it cause the hero great pain.
character take the normal damage of the attack to HP/SDC plus 1D4x10 direct to HP and they suffer the following penalties - 2 action, - 2 strike, parry and dodge, loses initiative, speed is halved and is -20% on all skill for 3D4 melee round, A called shot at -4 is need to hit this delicate target if the flaw is known, if it is unknown only a natural 20 and a random cheek buy the GM 1-10 hit the mark 11-100 no hit on D100 will inflict damage and penalties.

2. Hair of Samson:
Characters hair is 3'+1D4' long, is also thick and luxurious (no split ends etc.)
if the characters hair is cut for every 6" removed the character lose 20% of their power (ranges drop, damage is reduced, take 20% of damage is normally immune etc.) after losing 30" or more the characters powers are totally gone and one recover as the hair grows back which is a rate of 1" every week, if a characters hair is totally shaven the hair must grow back to 3' before any powers come back.

I like both of these as concepts but 40 damage directly to HP is an instant kill for most people, even mega heroes, and the section on Heels in the Mega hero category says that these get out and spread arouond. So many if not most of your foes would know exactly where to hit, to one or two shot you.

The concept is good though.

The Hair of Samson is fun.

Achilles Heel: Caffeine powered
“Stop Evil villain you can’t job that bank until I have my morning cups of joe”

The character requires large amounts of caffeine (or other eatable substance) to operate at full strength the character must consume 7500 mg every 24 hours (a standard cola has 35 mg) if the character doesn’t consume this amount his powers will start to fade at a rapid rate, he also becomes easily irritated.
First hour: -10% on all skills & - 30% on all powers, -2 all combat rolls, -2 actions, feels week and insecure, will start to complain about headaches.
Second hour: -20% on all skills & - 50% on all powers, -4 on all combat rolls, -4 actions, feels sick with fever, chills , nausea and all the rest, feels angry and/or depressed, extremely volatile temper.
Third hour: -35% on all skill and - 80% on all powers, reduce speed by 80%, - 8 on all combat rolls, ½ actions or -8 actions (use the lower), violently ill with headache, fever, chills, nausea, body tremors and convulsions. Feels total helpless.
Forth hour: the character lapses in to a coma not save.

Recovery: use 750 mg will stop the slide but will not restore powers and abilities, the characters powers will recover with in 1D4 melees if all 7500 mg are taken (215 cans of cola!!!) the character has the amazing ability to drink/eat anything with caffeine at put standing speed, cab drink 1 can of pop or cup of coffee per point of PE every minute.

Again like the concept, but the mechanics seem off. That’s 215 cans of soda a day.

That’s twenty GALLONS of soda a day. That’s 167 POUNDS of fluid a day.

That’s not remotely viable out side of heroes with super consumption. Just drinking that much water a day would kill you. Drinking just 6 liters of water in an hour can kill you. That’s under two gallons. By the numbers up there, if the character is awake for 16 hours and sleeps 8 hours ( Just to make the example) then they’re drinking over a gallon an hour, every waking hour of every waking day. It’d kill you.

So while I very much like the concept. (I think I have that heel) The numbers need to be ratched down by a factor of 10 at the very least.

750mg a day would put you at 22 can’s of soda a day. Or, a case a day. Even that’s more than a can an hour to maintain function.

Bad press:
No mater what the hero does he always ends up being cast in the worse light. Even if he saves the bystanders from falling rubble, its his fault for causing the villain to shoot the building in the first place. He's always the cause of the situations escalation.
The flip side for glory hogs is that the press never recognizes him and tends to give credit to other heroes for his good deeds with mistaken identity.

Love this one. Indeed it “Is” the “X-Men factor” but always kinda liked that. Great work on this one.

Drama Queen
The mega being is compelled to act in the most dramatic fashion possible, This means talking on high places, spending weeks putting wires into a cape or long coat so it flutters dispite a lack of a wind
and using dialogue that sounds corny, the mega is a ham and he cant help it. this gives a character -50% to his prowl skill, and -20% to any skill that requires a degree of subdued behavior.

While I wouldn’t choose this for myself or my character, it’s VERY Fitting for a number of characters in comics and a proportionately larger number of villains. Perfect for many mega-villains.

Ubanite
The charaters powers comes from the city itself when ever the charater is outside of a city he loses 1 SDC a hour hit points lost this way dont recover until the charater is back inside of a city.

I like the concept. The flip side “Country boy” Could work just the same, except he loses the SDC when he’s “in” a city.

Country Mouse
the charater probally had a rural background or lived under a rock but by his very nature he is bad with technology -30% to all machine related skills and any electronic device he touches has a 5% chance
of malfunctioning

Not bad but it feels more like ‘Gremlin’ than anythign to do with growing up in the country. I grew up in the country. They have more tech than a lot of people think. You might go “Hillbilly” with it, but Rual doesn’t equal technological ineptitude.

theme song the charaters body plays music when hes sad it plays sad music
when hes about to fight his body plays loud fight songs when hes happy his body plays happy music
the more emoition he feels the louder the music this makes sneaking around impossible

While not the flaw for “serious” games, it’s great for some of the more casual and loose ones. Very easy to picture.

I have a couple for you:

Achilles Heel: Narcoleptic: The character passes out after 2d4 melees of activity or when under stress and must be revived from a deep sleep. Periods of inactivity will easily lull the character to sleep, also.

Achilles Heel: Neat Freak: The character must roll vs. Horror Factor of 16 when entering dirty alleyways and 18 when entering sewers. Additionally, he has a -2 penalty in battle if the opponent musses his clothing and loses all attacks due to tantrum when attacked with mud or other filthy substances.

Narcoleptic is ‘Too’ restrictive. Having a char up for 2 melees then falls down and is easily killed is ‘too much’ for a heel. Way too easy to kill him. I see what you’re going for but mechanics could be tweeked

The “Neat freak” Is pretty fun. I’m not sure i’d give a flat -2 for having clothing ‘mussed’ but getting shot with muck or anything ‘gross’ could easily result in a -2 or -4. again losing all attacks while dirty seems too restrictive. If you could take superman down by spraying him with mud, that’d just be silly.

I like the general concept though.

Achilles Heel: Free Spirit
Some people are psychologically different, this is especially true of those who gain their powers from divine, infernal and spiritual sources (specifically Shamans).
Freedom, for the purposes of this post is defined as : The capacity to exercise choice; free will

When a Free Spirit loses thier freedom (or feels they have lost it such as a dead end job, being imprisoned, etc)...they will slowly begin a psychological descent to a feral state.
For up to a month, the character will suffer a moderate penalty -5% to all skills as they try to "adjust" to the feeling of confinement and the subsequent anger that accompanies it.
For the next month, the character will begin slipping in alignment towards evil as their minds begin to come up with any method available to escape. This month, they will also suffer a -10% penalty on all skills and abilities as well as a -2 to all attributes but for escape attempts only, they will gain a +10% to all skills and abilities and a +1 to all physical attributes.
This process will continue for months until approximately ten months have passed by which time they will have devolved mentally to that of a caged animal, hiding and wary of everything in it's cage, the alignment of the character is now diabolic (if a wolf will chew it's leg off to escape a trap after a day or two, think what level a wolf shaman will go to if caged for two months) although upon regaining their freedom, it will revert back to it's original alignment, although they will have some remaining mental issues.
Likewise they will physically be wasted, losing up to 50% of their mass from lack of eating (even if food was available) and depression.
Please note that although the example is given for physical imprisonment, the same effects will occur if the character "feels" that their freedom has been curtailed, such as having a day job, having excessive self imposed commitments, or anything that the "character" feels limits their freedom.
Due to the difficulty that Free Spirits experience with living a regimented life or one that fits into a schedule as is often the case in Western Industrialized society or a Communisit society, others will often have a very poor opinion of them, seeing them as shiftless or not willing to engage in difficult work.
For this reason Free Spirits will often have other issues, but the primary cause of their difficulties is their inherently Free Spirit.
Any feedback on this one? Seems a bit...lacking.
-STS

Good concept. The old “Some birds aren’t meant to be caged” thing. If I had a suggestion, the flaw while viable takes too long to kick in. Other than Gms ‘fast forwarding’ games, you’re not going to be 10 months locked up (Unless your entire game is in a jail or something and then this flaw seems very self defeating.

Instead of a month per step, I’d actually up it to a week. That way you deteriorate in just a few months.

20. Achilles heel: Wheel of the seasons
By some unforeseen force the characters mind set and abilities are tided to the four seasons.
Spring time of growth and rebirth- all wilderness skills, medical skills, healing powers (does not included the characters own ability to heal) and non-combat parts of APS and control forces powers are 25% stronger, but all combat bonuses are reduced by 2 points and combat powers (eq. strength damages but not lift, or energy expulsions) are reduced by 20%
Summer the time of war: character is +2 on all combat rolls and +25% on combat powers, however his judgment is off tries to charm or impresses are him done at a 20% bonus and also the character is easily provoked in to combat or angered in to a rage save vs a 16 (use ME bonus), all none combat super abilities are reduce by 15% (does not included the characters own ability to heal), all skill requiring concentration are at – 30%,

Fall the end of seasons and slowing of the year, the character starts to feel tired all combat bonuses are reduced by 5 points, - all wilderness skills, medical skills, healing powers (this does included the characters own ability to heal) and non-combat parts of APS and control forces powers are 10% stronger, but combat powers (eq. strength damages but not lift, or energy expulsions) are reduced by 30%,
Winter time of world recovery, all combat bonuses are reduced by 10 points or by half use the lower and combat powers (eq. strength damages but not lift, or energy expulsions) are reduced by 80%, all other non healing powers are reduce by 20%, all cold based powers and all healing powers are at a 50% bonus. Stills taken concentration are at +15% bonuses.

Like the concept of this one and the mechanics seem pretty good too.

Virgenity based powers

If the charater loses his virginity he loses his powers

I see what you’re going for. A ‘purity of heart and body’ sort of thing, but too draconian. Also… too easy to ignore.
All you have to do to be a mega is to never have sex? Not that hard. How often are char’s getting laid during games? I mean I know some people play it out and what not, more probably mention it off screen but if you took this as a flaw you could just say your character “Doesn’t have sex” and boom. You’re scott free.

Tourettes (sp?): The character, for the life of himself, cannot stop swearing with everyother sentence. Rather embarassing in social situations. Not applicable if the character sings or writes his intentions, but does effect sign language .

Excessive Methane Production: Character has gas, lots of it. Every hour they have a 10% +1% per level chance of letting loose with a flatulent blast that would put a howitzer to shame. If the character has one 'incident', there is also the chance (roll 1d20, 18 or better and they suffer the following penalty) that they will continue to 'emit' once a melee for 3d6 minutes.

Sickopath : For Good aligned charcters only. The characters powers were bestowed upon them by a Being aligned with the Netherworld/Death in some way. Once a month, they must perform a cold-blooded, and extremely protracted (3 hours minemum) murder or lose one level off of their experiance, and be wracked with intense pain for 6 hours (cannot perform any skills, is last in combat, has no bonuses, and only one melee action). Results are cumulative, so going too long will result in peramanantly looseing the powers, though missed moths can be made up with a doubel murder. Character can build up a 'safty net' by performing an extra murder, but it only grants a 15 day reprieve.

The Streak : Charactes powers only manifest when they are in the nude. ANY clothing (aside from gloves, masks, and boots), even a scarf or a belt will result in their powers being locked away. Tends to wear loose, easily removed clothes when they have to. Strangely enough, while performing 'super deeds' the character is unrecognizable, even to their spouse or family, so long as their face is hidden ( even by one of those Robin or Lone ranger masks).

Death Vision : Character sees how people are destined to die. If somebody is going to be shot, the bullet hole will be evident on their body, death by burning, ther body will bear the mark of the flame, etcetera. Every level beyond one, the chracter must make a straight save vs. insanity roll. If they win, they stay sane; if they fial, they go bonkers with homicidal rage. Oh, and the worst bit is that if they do tell people how they will die, something even worse will happen to the victem (or their fmaily).

Somnambulist: The character walks, talks, and commits crimes in his sleep. This could be the ultimate boy-scout doo gooder type of guy, but at night his repressed side comes out to play. 'Evil" version can use the charactes paowers at two levels higher than normal. Protracted battle (more than 5 minutes) or a successful psycic attack will 'snap' the person back to wakefullness immediatly.

Honest Abe: Character must tell the whole truth about whatever is asked of them. No matter how hard they try, the longest they can hold out is 2 melee rounds before bursting out and spilling the beans. Note that the character has to answer every question that they hear (even if its not directed at the), even if its just with a short "No" or "Yes".

Animal Attractant: No matter where the character goes, he always has a horde (2d4x10 minumum, usually four times that or more) of animals following everything he does. The animals run the gauntlet from dogs to alley cats, to birds to rodents, and most of them are in poor health, and just STARE at the character all. day. long. No matter where he goes, even into outer space, SOME critter will find him and observe him. Obviously, this would make the character rather easy to spot, as the crittesr never get more than 200 feet away from the Attractant.

Ehh.. these seem…. More geared to a … “younger playerbase” perhaps? 12 year olds?

Tourettes: isn’t actually a realistic application of the condition, but it’s a RPG, still, it seems kinda an excuse to just randomly swear for giggles.

Farts… Really?

Sickopath doesn’t function as a Heel. It’s basicly “Just play a diabolic or miscrient, and have a ‘reason’ to murder.

Streak: Really? Again this fits in with the farts and tourettes above.

Death Vision: Actually could work, and would be disconcerning. Though Roll vs insanity every level is ‘too much’ for a heel. I could see it showing as distraction causing combat penalties if the ‘death’ was really gruesome, or a loved one.

Somnambulist: Doesn’t feel like a Heel, but again a sort of free pass to play evil and claim an excuse.

Honest Abe: Could be a heel. It could get people in trouble very easily.

Animal Attraction: is basicly the Summon and control small animals, with a bit of edge

For ‘younger’ games or very… juvenile games, these might work, but if someone tried to get a mega hero passed in my games with the farts or having to run around naked all the time. I’d probably not let that guy play in our games. That’s a bit too juvenile for it to be even funny. I’d wonder what’s wrong with that guy.

Skinned face: Just as the title says, the characters face looks as though its been skinned...reduce to P.B. to 1d4+1 or a +2 to Horror Factor. In addtition the 'face' is much more sensitive to the touch, all damage done to the head inflicts an extra 3 points (even if their supposed to be invulnerable or damage resitant), and causes a -3 to intiative and -1 Attack per Melee till the end of the next melee due to the fierce, shooting pain. If you really want to be evil, they could be constantly oozing blood, pus, or slime off of their face, having flies lay eggs on it while their asleep, etc. etc.

Edible Hero: Character is made out of some type of edible substance (taffy, gummy candy, beef jerky, etc.); even if their are supposed to be invulnerable or have extra durability, opponents can take a bite out of them with relative ease (costs two attacks, and at -3 to strike) doing either double damage or damage directto hit-points (choose at creation).

Achiles Heel: Character literally has a spot on their body that is incredibly vulnerable, any attacks directed at it will punch through any natural armor or resistances they have direct to hit points for double damage. Damage inflicted in this manner takes three times as long to heal, and will over-ride any regenerative or healing abilities they have (cannot be healed by any potions, magic or psychic abilities). If they are injured there with a critical hit, they will scar something fierce, leaving the area hideously disfigured, if at a joint it will impare movement.

Sensitive stomach: Any blows to the stomach will cause the character to vomit spectacularly (projectile all the way) for the next two melee rounds, unable to even defend themself until they have voided their stomach. In addition, they are unable to eat anything even remotely spicy, or drink anything stronger than weak tea or they will trigger the above response. As a matter of fact, even smelling spicy of foul smells will likely cause this (roll a save vs. non-lethal poison at -3) for as long as they can smell then offending odor.

That's all I've got for now, post some more later.

These again threaten to drop into the ‘gag’ or ‘childish’ territory.

Skinned face… ehh. It could work as a flaw. I’m not sure anyone would take it unless they wanted to purposefully gross out people but it’d work as a flaw.

Edible hero is a joke character, and something that would fit in the rifter 9 and a half.

The middle one has already been mentioned up thread.

Sensitive stomach: Again comes across as a gag. “We’ve got farters, we’ve got streakers, lets have barfers”

Tenche syndrom
the charater attracts psycotic people who stalk him or her relentlessly said charaters find ways into the charaters life fight with rivials and generally make his life heck the charater starts with 1d4 stalkers
and gains a new one every second level

I like this one. Fits for many of the chars with enhanced beauty of ‘supped up’ looks, like the mystically bestowed or Enchanted weapon transformations. “Stalkers”

Thing is this is a ‘mega hero’ so would the stalkers need to be super powered themselves/ Cuz having a janitor stalk you, while a little creepy, all mega heroes have supernatural strength, you could just throw him into a wall or out into traffic.

[dragon_blaze_99]

169. Achilles Heel: Dullahan
The Dullahan (pronounced DOOL-a-HAN) - also referred to as the Headless Horseman - is a type of spirit or fairy originating from Irish folklore. This sinister being appears as a man or a woman riding upon a black horse, but the rider has no head upon their shoulders. Typically, the Dullahan carries its head under its arm; the head appears dead and rotten with a demonic grin spread across its face.

This is a five-fold flaw
1. Horror factor the headless horseman has an aura of due to the long history of folk tales and movies, HF 10 + 1D4 +1 at 3,6 and 9 as the head rots
2. The head is susceptible to damage reducing the heads AR by 7 points compared to the body or to 5 it also takes 50% more damage when attacked (-3 strike small target) like all beings destroying the head kills the character.
3. The character must carry the head around with him, it is still how he see’s and hears meaning that putting it in a bag blinds him, etc.
4. If some one takes the character's head away from the character, his powers fade at 10% per 50’ of distance; at 500’ the dullahan’s power is reduces by 99% and stays that way until the head is returned for and held for 30 minutes.
5. The character loses all save vs psionic attacks (just dice rolls) if the psychic is physically touching the character's head.

You're not really clear on this. Are you saying the character's flaw is that he (or she) is a headless horseman? Seems like it might have benefits as well.

know just that he/she is headless (not a true dullahan i will level that for the next rifts world book) it has some perks but over all it a flaw I just wanted a name cooler than detached head

[Stone Gargoyle]

know just that he/she is headless (not a true dullahan i will level that for the next rifts world book) it has some perks but over all it a flaw I just wanted a name cooler than detached head

The power is still not written very clearly. I got what you were intending, though.

[dragon_blaze_99]

So anyone want new ones?

[Stone Gargoyle]

Sure. I'm always up for new creations by fans.