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I was wondering do or would you allow super powers in your nightbane games? A player of mine asked me this, saying that the dark day caused "unnatural" energies to be released into the world which caused his characters mutation. What do you think of this?

Would I?

Probably, yes...

The question to ask is do YOU want them in the game? YOU are the GM, and YOU determine what is in the world.

I ran a Nightbane/HU2 game before and had a lot of fun with it, but you have to decide in advance to do it. If you don't think super powers are going to fit into your game you shouldn't be obligated to include it. It's not like you're arguing if he should be able to play a nightbane mystic or not, this is stuff from a completly different game.



Daniel Stoker

If you were to introduce such abilites, I would recommend finding a way to tie said superpowers into the war between Light and Dark, of which the war against the Nightlords is only the latest incarnation. Perhaps the Dark grants bizarre powers to those it finds useful to its cause-- even if they think they are actually fighting it?

I decided to let in super-power type character in the game they worked out OK, being that I didn't allow any character that was more powerfull than a Nightbane.

PhishStyx wrote:I had one player (out of 3) who chose to go the super heroic route, essentially as Supergirl (her Supernatural PS came to 63, she had Invulnerability, Sonic Flight, AND Bio-Armor [the Rifter version]) and then got nickel & dimed on damage everytime she met up with Hounds or Hunters.
The player was furious at me for giving not giving his char. a means of regenerating damage.
I figured I was doing something right since she was a walking, flying tank otherwise.
.

How did she get a supernatural strength?

I use Nightbanes in my HUII campaign. The Nighlands continuity is plundered heavily for my plots, but I don't do everything exactly as per the books' plot.
It isn't too hard to keep balance: the bane is tough, but he better not jack with the Mind Melter (a player), the Dargon Immortal (another player), or the Asgardian (yet another player).

I just had an disagreement with one of my players on this. I decided not to allow it because the other player would want super powers too, and I feel that a lot of super powers in my Nightbane game would through it off balance. But it might work for your game. Just remember that other player will want them too.

bigwhitehound wrote:I was wondering do or would you allow super powers in your nightbane games? A player of mine asked me this, saying that the dark day caused "unnatural" energies to be released into the world which caused his characters mutation. What do you think of this?

Sure.

In keeping with the pseudo-religious themes in Nightbane I had once tinkered around with a modified version of the Mystically Bestowed power category from Heroes Unlimited, which I dubbed the "Mighty Man of Legend" O.C.C., based on the notion that many of the demigods and warrior heroes of mythology (those that weren't actually Nightbane that is ) were actually mortal men endowed with supernatural power by some mysterious force.

Every time I look at my computer I kick myself for never backing anything up...


In any event, I think super powered characters can work well in Nightbane, but I would not allow characters to have as many powers as their HU counterparts. I'd probably limit characters to only one major power OR two to three minor powers, and such characters would likely never have any magical or psionic powers.

bigwhitehound wrote:I was wondering do or would you allow super powers in your nightbane games? A player of mine asked me this, saying that the dark day caused "unnatural" energies to be released into the world which caused his characters mutation. What do you think of this?

For an interseting twist you could say that they do, but he has to get on the bus to hell. The one they mention in TTGD-he has to get 30 peices of silver and a good intention (like"I'm going to get super powers to be a superhero!") to pay for the ride.
Then he makes adea with the devil (or something) that give him superpowers. AFter all Demons and stuff dont' like the nightlords(except the ones allied with Lilith) and would probably like a chance to get an innocent dupe to fight him for them(with out tracing him back to them they won't bother to retaliate against them).

That would keep most players from wanting superpowers.

The only thing I would not do, is allow a super-powered Nightbane.

Nightbane can not be "Super Powered"...they already are!

Does that mean mutants and experiments can't become "awakened"? What about alien Nightbane?
Mega-hero Nightbane?
Immortal Godling Nightbane?

Sentinel wrote:Does that mean mutants and experiments can't become "awakened"? What about alien Nightbane?

A nigthbane's facade could look like a particular race of mutants or aliens, if it was born into a world or community where such beings are common, but it would still be a nightbane in every way, and would have only the powers and penalties of the Nightbane R.C.C.

Similarly, their racial immunities would make Nightbane Mutants or Experiments impossible.

Mega-hero Nightbane?

Somewhat pointless, as the Mega template adds little to these powerhouses, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't actually be possible. Some rare and ancient Nightbane may very well be the equivalent of Mega Heroes. Heck, Moloch almost seems to be a Mega-Nightlord...

Immortal Godling Nightbane?

Another partly redundant one. Nightbane are already immortal, and don't seem to have a specific religion or pantheon.

Hypothetically, it may however be possible for a Nightbane to somehow ascend to deific status.

That said, a Nightbane might make a good addition to the character types available from the Immortal Power Category in HU.

Tinker Dragoon wrote:

Sentinel wrote:Does that mean mutants and experiments can't become "awakened"? What about alien Nightbane?

A nigthbane's facade could look like a particular race of mutants or aliens, if it was born into a world or community where such beings are common, but it would still be a nightbane in every way, and would have only the powers and penalties of the Nightbane R.C.C.

Similarly, their racial immunities would make Nightbane Mutants or Experiments impossible.

Um,IIRC the original Rifts Conversion book one had mentioned that elves dwarves and so forth could be the morphus of a nightbane.
Dont' know if dark conversions say's that or not.

Or maybe it was a NB supplement that had that.
Stil trying to remember.....

The_Spirit wrote:Um,IIRC the original Rifts Conversion book one had mentioned that elves dwarves and so forth could be the morphus of a nightbane.
Dont' know if dark conversions say's that or not.

Or maybe it was a NB supplement that had that.
Stil trying to remember.....

It was Between the Shadows, in the expanded conversion notes. To wit, a Nightbane's facade could appear to be an elf, dwarf, atlantean, or just about any being with under 250 M.D.C. (at least I think that was the cutoff...), and had the attribute scores of that race, but none of the powers or abilities, having instead the standard Nightbane facade abilities of "the Becoming," nightvision, sense other nightbane, and immunity to mind control and transformation.

Now of course, if one follows the logic that the Wampyr are latent Nightbane whose not-yet-developed immunity to transformation and mind control gives them some resistance to being fully transfigured by a Vampire's bite, one could argue that mutants or experiments could also be latent Nightbane at times.

However, while such beings may be superhuman they will never undergo the Awakening and become true Nightbane. At best, such characters' latent Nightbane powers would be the "X factor" that catalyzes a mutation or experiment.

Personally I'd recommend taking the Rifts Conversion Book route and just have one distinct "Superbeing" class that has HU-style super powers, and ignore the HU power categories entirely, unless doing a full blown crossover campaign.

One thought that I had on this was to be certain not to allow any powered characters to overshadow others, nor allow too much cross-over.
In order to make certain magics and Nightbane talents more rare and unique, I would dis-allow any HUII Super power that too heavily duplicated such.

In terms of level of power, it does all balance out fairly well. I have seen (and generated myself) several HUII characters who were perfectly capable of taking on Hounds and Hunters.
The real challenge is in keeping the story flowing, and keeping characters of such disparate backgrounds on the same track working towards the same goals as a team.