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TimP
02-25-2007, 09:20 PM
So, in our Fall of Turmhoch (http://burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3515&page=3) campaign (the ap thread for which is extremely out of date) Pat's character, Wulf, was absolutely torn apart by The Watcher (http://burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3745)which was a crazy demon thing. He took a Severe wound, and rather than have the character be out of play for months of time in a very time-sensitive campaign, the players circled up this crazy witch lady, who was the wise woman for a clan of Pict-like 'savages' in the wastelands of the north.

We had a scene in this old woman's hovel where, basically, Wulf had to make a deal with the devil in order to be healed. He had to accept this ancient god's eye in place of HIS ruined eye. Yeah, yeah. Eye of Vecna. I know. Anyway, I made it very clear to Pat that this eye would do weird and bad things to his character involving Will tests. I just now figured out how it all works, and wanted to get some feedback.

The Eye of Gargan
This red jewel of an oversized eye is surrounded by ancient leathery scaly flesh. Through great hand-wavium magics it can be used to replace a living human's eye, but at tremendous cost.

Powers of the Eye:
I Call Upon the Power of Gargan (dt)
A character who sees with the eye of Gargan can call upon his powers once per day. Power from beyond the veil of time and space courses through the character's body, as he summons 1-4 dice (player's choice) of the dead god's power for use in one test. After using the power the character must make a Will test equal to a base Obstacle of 2, plus the number of dice used to supplement the test he just made.

Second Sight (dt)
The character inflicted with The Eye can see Auras and is imparted with the Aura Reading skill at b5. This ability comes into play whenever the Eye is activated for the dice bonus.

If the Will test is successful, the character suffers no consequences. If he fails the Will test, he gains the following traits, in order.

1) Scales of a God (dt): Great patches of scaly skin emerge from the character's pink flesh. 1d of natural armor to one hit location. +2ob to Social Skill tests that aren't Intimidation, Conspicuous, or the like.

2) Flared and Flattened Nose (dt): Just what it sounds like. See Wolf's Snout MB 348.

3) Faith in Dead Gods (dt) Loses regular Faith, if applicable, and gains the following Belief: I will use the Vagnar (the tribe the eye was taken from) to spread the worship of Gargan.

4) Lawbreaker. The character gains the Lawbreaker trait, which comes into effect whenever the eye is invoked (whether the Will test is successful, or not).

5) Power of the Cosmos (dt) The character's body changes to that of a stocky, twisted, and powerful lizard-like biped. Power becomes Grey.

6) I AM GARGAN. Gargan totally possesses the character's body and mind. Get thee to the character burner.

Ok. I realize this is bat-shit crazy stuff, but is it TOO bat-shit crazy? This campaign probably only has one or two sessions left, so I doubt we'll see the upper levels of the return of Gargan, but it's scary stuff, no?

Iskander
02-26-2007, 10:15 AM
What's his Will right now? I would bump the base Ob to 3 or 4, make it harder... he'll have to spend artha to use the eye without consequences => it's got to be important.

Also, I would consider giving him a fourth inimical eye-related belief right away. He should be in conflict with the godflesh from the get-go.

Just my 2c.

TimP
02-26-2007, 10:25 AM
What's his Will right now? I would bump the base Ob to 3 or 4, make it harder... he'll have to spend artha to use the eye without consequences => it's got to be important.

Hmmm. The character's Will is 4, right now, so ob3 base would be pretty hardcore. I don't want to make the player TOO scared to use the Eye, otherwise he'll never start down his path to lizard god-dome. Then again, you're right. :D I'll talk it over with the player and see what he thinks is coolest.



Also, I would consider giving him a fourth inimical eye-related belief right away. He should be in conflict with the godflesh from the get-go.

I bet the player will devote one of his three to it, now that he knows what it is. Plus, he's got that Faith in Dead Gods Belief coming up, if he gets too eye-happy.

Thanks for the feedback!

Tim

luke
02-27-2007, 11:12 AM
It's a Die Trait, not a Call-On, btw. Trait gives him dice, hence the name...

Anyway, I wouldn't give the Aura Reading for free. It should have its own consequence -- especially if your game is nearing it's end.

And make sure you KEEP REMINDING Pat about ALL THOSE FREE DICE JUST SITTING THERE FOR HIM TO USE. Actually, I'd get four red dice and set them in front of him and just stare at him. Don't say a thing. Just look from him, to the dice and back to him again.

-L

TimP
02-27-2007, 11:30 AM
It's a Die Trait, not a Call-On, btw. Trait gives him dice, hence the name...

derrrr. Typo.



Anyway, I wouldn't give the Aura Reading for free. It should have its own consequence -- especially if your game is nearing it's end.

Hmm. I suppose I could just roll the Aura Reading in as a side effect of using the eye, instead of making it a seperate thing.



And make sure you KEEP REMINDING Pat about ALL THOSE FREE DICE JUST SITTING THERE FOR HIM TO USE. Actually, I'd get four red dice and set them in front of him and just stare at him. Don't say a thing. Just look from him, to the dice and back to him again.

Hell, yeah! :D

Thor
02-27-2007, 12:02 PM
Hmm. I suppose I could just roll the Aura Reading in as a side effect of using the eye, instead of making it a seperate thing.

Nah. Let it grant Second Sight. But learning how to discern the crazy stuff he's seeing is cool too. So let him open his Aura Reading skill normally through use of Beginner's Luck.

TimP
02-27-2007, 12:09 PM
Nah. Let it grant Second Sight. But learning how to discern the crazy stuff he's seeing is cool too. So let him open his Aura Reading skill normally through use of Beginner's Luck.

Dang. You guys should stop giving such good, yet conflicting, advice. ;)

I would totally go with your idea, Thor, except we've only got one or two sessions left and the Beginner's Luck would never bear fruit, and would only be frustrating for the player.

It's a freaking cool way to handle a character having power he doesn't know how to use, though! I'll be thinking of ways to incorporate the concept into our BW Old Skool game that's coming up.

stormsweeper
02-27-2007, 12:17 PM
Just let him use those red dice...

luke
02-27-2007, 01:58 PM
DUDE! Anthony's right. Thor's right! Start him off with just Second Sight. Put the Aura Reading skill as STEP 2 on your table. Increase Aura Reading by 1 exponent for each failed Will test.

-L

TimP
02-27-2007, 04:46 PM
DUDE! Anthony's right. Thor's right! Start him off with just Second Sight. Put the Aura Reading skill as STEP 2 on your table. Increase Aura Reading by 1 exponent for each failed Will test.

-L

Nice! I'm putting it at Step 1, though. The cat's already out of the bag (as in-game color) on the Aura Reading.

stormsweeper
02-27-2007, 06:00 PM
Also, this thread has inspired me: one of the big villains in Burning THAC0 totally has the Hand of Vecna.

Kublai
02-27-2007, 07:17 PM
YIKES!

pseudoidiot
02-27-2007, 08:11 PM
It's the Head of Vecna you've really gotta look out for...

Fourth Horseman
03-01-2007, 10:38 AM
Also, this thread has inspired me: one of the big villains in Burning THAC0 totally has the Hand of Vecna.

Ok, I was brought up on MERP not D&D. What's the hand of Vecna & do I want to know?

stormsweeper
03-01-2007, 11:22 AM
Ok, I was brought up on MERP not D&D. What's the hand of Vecna & do I want to know?

Because Wikipedia is awesome: Hand of Vecna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Vecna)

The Dragon Master
03-01-2007, 02:11 PM
And lets not forget the Head of Vecna (http://www.hut.fi/~vesanto/link.fun/stupid.pcs.html)