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Smashed wrote:Physically deformity is good. Maybe some sort of continuous mutation that gets worse and worse as time goes on.

"...er...you know there's a FOOT growing out of the back of your neck...?"
"Yes. Now quit bothering me about it."

Isn't this the Imbued character from Heros Unlimited?

reduced lifespan and a chance of severe systematic cancer.
for the new abilities to develop (assuming her something like stronger muscles, better vision, faster healing, etc?) the altered cells in all tissues would need to multiply and replace the existing, unaltered cells. so unless you want ot wait several years for the process to occur naturally, your genetic treatments would have to include some treatments to accelelrate cell growth as well as cell death (basically unmodified cells need to die quicker, with modified cells replicating faster to replace them).

this rapid cell growth would result in a drastic shortening of telomeres, the genetic "clocks" that tell an organism's tissues how long their lifespan can be. (basically, they're junk DNA, and each division of the cell causes them to get shorter. when you run out of junk DNA, you start loosing important DNA, which results in malfunctiong cells, which means malfunctiong tissues, which results in many of the problems of old age)

these same treatments to accelerate cell growth could lead to damaged cells which grow out of control, or cancer. attempts to solve the telomere problem can also lead to cancer (which is basically a cell which mutated to be able to divide even when the telomere's are gone)

so you might be able to produce a 'super-man' through retroviral modification, but his cells would be a ticking timebomb, doomed to either die of premature old age, or severe cancer long before his normal unmodified body would have died.

Actually, experiments with gene therapy on mice to make them build muscle made them both stronger and live longer.

http://nihrecord.od.nih.gov/newsletters ... tory03.htm

here's a less academic article:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/s ... ice09.html

In any case I agree that even though it isn't scientifically accurate, an OCC like this should have a side effect like random physical mutations. Some of them could be kind of useful like growing a tentacle-like appendage, or grow really big ears that increase hearing however both should lower PB . Other's could be totally non-useful like non-cancerous tumours all over the body or severe hair growth/loss etc.

What kind of above human abilities we talking about here?
Captain America type where he can do the stuff humans can, but he's just better at it than most humans? Or actual superhuman abilities like energy stuff, flight, adhesion, etc.?
Are there particular themes you want to stick with like purely biological abilities, psi powers, or some other category?
Do they all get the same power? Or is it random?

Because there's the side effects of the experiment itself (which probably should be influenced by what sort of powers you're getting, at least in part), and also the possibility of side effects of individual powers if you want to get into that much detail.

Necronomicus wrote:look up the janissary project in the rifters

useless for this. not only were the janissary project soldiers engineered prior to birth, but in addition to their MDC, power Psitalents, and supernatural strength (a combination that blatently violates the canon established limits of the Lonestar complex and Bradford), they had absolutelyno drawbacks at all. except for arrogance. which for superhumans, isn't mch of a drawback as it is a motivator for world conquest..

grandmaster z0b wrote:Actually, experiments with gene therapy on mice to make them build muscle made them both stronger and live longer.

the mice in those experiments were not undergoing substantial changes, nor were those changes immediate. they occured over time (several months), and focused not on altering the function of the tissues but on encouraging the natural production of growth related hormones.

but i will conceed that reduced lifespan should perhaps not be the main problem. (if you boost the healing rate though, i'd expect it as a side effect of the faster cell division rates going on..)
i still think cancer should be a possible result, due to flooding the person's system with retrovirii. not all are going to go to the cells intended. the ones that miss are likely to alter other cells, which would lead to dangerous mutations. which generally result in damaged tissues like cancer, and not major physical deformity (since that requires multiple types of tissue growing in concert..if you were dealing with pre-natal engineering, perhaps, but post-natal modifications are just going ot result in damaged organs or cancer.

I'd take a look at the Gigantes Warlord in Mt. Nimro. As the character advances, he gets progressively mutated. The genetic slurry that got injected in them has long-term, unforeseen, mutations, and is vulnerable to further mutation... and the virus sticks around, shuffling DNA as it goes.

I'd go with a random-roll table. Some results suck, some rock, and some are a mixed bag.

Maybe the oni tables from Rifts Japan could be useful inspiration for that

Require booster shots or other medication periodically to maintain their abilities or suffer penalties (or miss enough and lose them forever). This would not be like the Juicer's constant stream requirement for drugs and such. More like if you are put on medication take xtimes in give period.

Try turning the slowly invisible or alternitivally you could slowly turn all but there bone transparent.

vampire_hunter_D wrote:I'm in search of ideas here. I was working on an idea for a new chatacter type, one created through Genetic Enhancement. Not grown from scratch like a clone or Dog boy, but humans injected with some sort of viral carrier that rewrites their DNA to give them above-human ablilities. Now, since all enhanced characters need some sort of flaw to go with their power (Juicers have shorted lifespans, Crazies go mad, Borgs have to have body parts replaced), I need something like that to go with this. But my imagination is failing me. Can any of you come up with something I can use to bring these Gene-E's (good name, no?) down a few pegs?

We could use some more info on the abilities of this Genetic Enhancement for starters.

Without much to work on here goes :

Biotics (Splicers rpg). Looks Inhuman, alot/most of memory is erased by the process.
Eugenics (HU2 - PU2). Various Side-effects. Physical Mutation, Possible Insanities. Could Luck out and get No Drawback even (rare). Seriously Look the Eugenics Catagory up ASAP. It even has tables ready to go. Origin, Nature of Eugenetics Process, Appearance, etc...
Halcyon Effect (HU2 - Centry Station). Mutates the user unlocking hidden powers. Side-effect is : No Powers, Reduced Powers, No powers but gains Insanity, 1d4 Major Superpowers. Can use it up to 2 more times. Each time the Side-effects is more dangerous.

vampire_hunter_D wrote:I'm in search of ideas here. I was working on an idea for a new chatacter type, one created through Genetic Enhancement. Not grown from scratch like a clone or Dog boy, but humans injected with some sort of viral carrier that rewrites their DNA to give them above-human ablilities. Now, since all enhanced characters need some sort of flaw to go with their power (Juicers have shorted lifespans, Crazies go mad, Borgs have to have body parts replaced), I need something like that to go with this. But my imagination is failing me. Can any of you come up with something I can use to bring these Gene-E's (good name, no?) down a few pegs?

Get the Powers Unlimited 2 book, the Eugenics class deals with this subject. Gugenics is also brought up in the Galaxie Guild book.

Could also look at the Gene Splicers random mutations (in Africa and Underseas, IIRC), and the mutations by Splugorth bio-wizardry in Atlantis. Probably make them half as potent, as they are not magical in nature.

One thing that enhancement misses on is the need to eat...and eat a lot.

Maybe too micromanagery, I don't know.

glitterboy2098 wrote:

grandmaster z0b wrote:Actually, experiments with gene therapy on mice to make them build muscle made them both stronger and live longer.

the mice in those experiments were not undergoing substantial changes, nor were those changes immediate. they occured over time (several months), and focused not on altering the function of the tissues but on encouraging the natural production of growth related hormones.

Actually they focused on blocking production of the protein myostatin that naturally retards muscle growth, not producing hormones. They have since found a very similar effect in two different human babies who naturally have a mutation, however instead of not producing the chemical they have been born without the receptors. Here's an article about one of them http://awurl.com/tugeqz122635

glitterboy2098 wrote:but i will conceed that reduced lifespan should perhaps not be the main problem. (if you boost the healing rate though, i'd expect it as a side effect of the faster cell division rates going on..)
i still think cancer should be a possible result, due to flooding the person's system with retrovirii. not all are going to go to the cells intended. the ones that miss are likely to alter other cells, which would lead to dangerous mutations. which generally result in damaged tissues like cancer, and not major physical deformity (since that requires multiple types of tissue growing in concert..if you were dealing with pre-natal engineering, perhaps, but post-natal modifications are just going ot result in damaged organs or cancer.

Well it depends on whether you want to be realistic or creative; both have merits. I acknowledge that these kinds of gene therapy would not have people suddenly growing tentacles but rolling a d10 to see if you get leukaemia, testicular cancer or luck out and only get benign tumours the size of volleyballs growing out of your abdomen is not as much fun.