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Gemini
Aug 11, 2018 2:20:30 GMT -6
Post by GuardianTempest on Aug 11, 2018 2:20:30 GMT -6
With the presence of magic, divine influence, the Umbra and the Warp; reality is fragile enough as it is and scenarios previously thought to be impossible are frequent occurrences. The Gemini is one such example, two mortal entities sandwiched together into one parallel existence. They occupy the same point in existence, though only one can fully exist at a time while the other remains transient. Static PowersShared Existence: Create two characters instead of one. The second character can be a different race, class, and alignment than the first, skipping the Exaltation step (because both characters share the same exaltation). Feats, assets, hindrances, and derived stats are separate; while Divergence, Schism, Hero Points, and Exaltation assets are shared. The characters share a pool of Hit Points equal to the average of their individual Hit Points. Critical damage is tracked separately unless caused by Quantum Friction, but both characters die if one of them does. Both characters receive the same amount of XP and spend them separate from one another. Divergence is capped at the lower level of the pair and requires both characters to spend XP when raising it. Switching: The Gemini's active character may switch places with their partner as a Full Action that provokes. Any ongoing effects and conditions affecting the inactive character (like Blood Loss, regeneration, or being on fire) are paused until he becomes active again. Existential Defrag: In structured time, the Gemini can remove Negative Schism equal to Divergence as a Full Action. This ability cannot restore Positive Schism. Quantum Friction: The Gemini loses Hit Points at the beginning of their turn (or every 2 minutes in narrative time) equal to their Negative Schism divided by Divergence, round down (minimum of 0). (Example: With 8 points of Negative Schism, the Gemini would lose 4 Hit Points at Divergence 2 and only one at Divergence 5) Critical damage that would be dealt this way is tracked separately from other sources and applies to both characters. Only Positive Schism can be spent to recover Hit Points. Optional Rule: Quantum Friction Critical EffectsYou may have noticed that Quantum Friction does not list a damage type and does not designate a body location. This is mainly to allow the author's idea of the Gemini's very existence failing them, inflicting an appropriate flavor of damage. Use the critical chart below if you want such effects. Critical | Effect | 1 | The Gemini gains a static penalty equal to their negative Schism on all tests until their next turn. | 2 | As above, and the Gemini gains a point of fatigue and -1k0 on all tests until their next turn. | 3 | As above, and the Gemini rolls on the Psychic Phenomena table with +5 for every point of negative Schism. No one else is affected, you lose a point of Negative Schism afterwards. | 4 | As above, but the Gemini rolls on the Perils of the Warp table with +5 for every point of negative Schism. No one else is affected and you lose all your Negative Schism afterwards. | 5 | The Gemini's personal field of reality collapses and they collide with themselves into a display of disintegrating Menger sponges. Dojyaaa~n! |
If you do not wish to use this rule, then Quantum Friction simply deals E damage to the body. Power Stat: DivergenceDivergence represents how much the Gemini can influence reality as separate entities. It is capped at the lower level of the pair. (If one member is Level 4 and the other is Level 2, Divergence is capped at 2.)Resource Stat: SchismThe Gemini have a number of Schism equal to twice their Divergence, but they can keep spending upon running out and gain Negative Schism with no limit. Positive Schism is restored at a rate of two per hour. Any effects that cause you to gain resource points decreases an equal amount of Negative Schism first (if you have any) before restoring Positive Schism. Conversely, effects that cause you to lose resource points give you Negative Schism if you have no Positive Schism remaining. TellA Gemini's tell starts off subtle yet hinting at their true nature. Reflections show a completely different person and another shadow is cast that acts independently. As Schism is spent, the partner's influence becomes more and more noticeable, eventually showing up as a ghostly, translucent visage standing right beside the active character like a mundane version of an Atlantean's golden spirit. Particularly malicious ones look like they're forcefully guiding their partner's actions like a puppeteer. However, things start looking bad once they strain their powers too far. Reality starts to glitch out and their attire starts to meld with that of their partners'. Colors wash together or fade to gray, and the aura around them starts violently wavering, visually distorting their surroundings as their personal reality becomes more unstable. At severe levels, the Gemini's appearance becomes similar to badly-corrupted digital video as they slowly and painfully disintegrate. Divergence | Power Gained | ✱ | Double Trouble: You always count as having an adjacent ally for Ganging Up and other interactions. You may also spend 1 Schism as a Half Action to receive an Aid Another action from your partner. | ✱✱ | Placeholder: Your characters may spend one Schism to exchange one of their characteristics or skills (including specialties) with their counterpart's for one test or one round, whichever is longer. This can be done multiple times, spending Schism for each characteristic or skill exchanged. Derived stats (except for Hit Points) are changed if needed. | ✱✱✱ | Quick Switch: You may switch as a Half Action instead of a Full Action, it still provokes. | ✱✱✱✱ | Buy One, Take One: You may perform the same kind of Half Action twice in your turn. (e.g. two Standard Attacks) | ✱✱✱✱✱ | Splinter Twin: At the beginning of your turn, you may spend 1 Schism to summon your partner right beside you as a free action. Hit Points and Schism are still shared but not conditions like Blood Loss. You must spend 1 Schism at the beginning of your following turns (or every minute in narrative time) to stay separated or be forcibly merged. Turning back to normal can be done at the end of your following turns as a free action, choosing who remains active upon doing so. If the par is at least 5m apart when merging then they take 1d5 wounds plus one for every meter beyond the fifth. Critical damage dealt this way uses Quantum Friction's effects. The pair uses the same initiative roll. |
Gemini Disparity AssetsNote: Both characters must spend 100 XP to purchase these assets. D4CThanks to parallel universes, you can do dirty deeds for dirt cheap. You don't have a different character as your partner, there's just two of you instead. Placeholder increases the rolled dice in tests using the affected skill/characteristic by 50% (round up). Use your normal calculation for Hit Points. Upon dying your alternate self appears from nowhere, taking your place with no critical damage and Hit Points equal to your Willpower+Constitution+Divergence. A new alternate self is prepared at the beginning of the next scene but you may also spend or burn a Hero Point to do it manually. The effects of Quantum Friction still applies, if one member dies from it then so does the other. King CrimsonA bizarre and unpredictable ability, it just works! You may spend 1 Schism to switch immediately as a free action that doesn't provoke. Alternatively, you may instead spend 2 Schism to vanish as a free action that also doesn't provoke. Your partner will reappear within turns equal to your Divergence at a location that can be as far as twice that from your original point. You suffer the effects of Quantum Friction (if applicable) at the beginning of each turn while your partner has yet to reappear. (e.g. At Divergence 2 you may vanish and have your partner show up anywhere within 4m of your previous location before or at the end of the next 2 turns.)Notorious B.I.G.The Gemini's Resilience is increased by the amount of HP they would lose from Quantum Friction. If one half of the Gemini dies, the other half manifests beside the corpse (if not currently using Splinter Twin). The survivor cannot recover Positive Schism, is unable to use Switching and has Stuff of Nightmares while in this state. The dead partner loses a point of critical damage each day, knitting itself together and restoring destroyed body parts, until resurrecting once all critical damage is removed. Using Splinter Twin with a dead partner animates their corpse, which redirects all incoming damage to the still-living counterpart. Stardust CrusaderYour partner is a level 1 monster made using the Spirit Creation Rules, it shares your HP and uses your Schism for Resource. Instead of the normal effects, Switching summons your monster beside you and can be dismissed as a free action. Using Placeholder on your skill tests adds your spirit's level in rolled dice if it's proficient in that skill. Unless summoned with Splinter Twin, you and your spirit do not require spending Schism to maintain this effect but must share turns and are restricted in actions as if they were a single character. Whenever you raise your Divergence, increase the level of your monster appropriately. Earth, Wind and FireThe Gemini's shared existence is more intertwined than they think. They can spend a Schism as a Half Action to exchange one racial power or feat until the end of the scene. Placeholder's effects also last until the end of the scene. Splinter Twin may be used to enter a "hybrid form" that is both of the pair's races at once, sharing racial powers and feats. Its Size is the average of the two (round up), and also uses the higher of their skills and characteristics (e.g. if one half has 4 Strength and 2 Acrobatics while the other has 2 and 5 respectively, the hybrid form has 4 Strength and 5 Acrobatics).
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Gemini
Aug 11, 2018 3:48:27 GMT -6
Post by GuardianTempest on Aug 11, 2018 3:48:27 GMT -6
An exalt primarily inspired by Doppio/Diavolo from Vento Aureo/Golden Wind, as well as entertaining the idea of two people occupying the same slot in existence. This can also cover the Jekyll-Hide split-personality archetype as well as transforming characters like Captain Marvel Shazam. Shared Existence: The core gimmick of the exaltation. You're not some powerful being, you're just a pair of two mortals stuck together because the laws of physics couldn't keep you two apart. Switching: As part of the core gimmick, simply switch from being Person A to Person B as a provoking Full Action. Why provokes? Because reality is messy that way. Interrupting Disconnection: I couldn't come up with another ability so I just ripped off stellatedHexahedron's Axiomatic power that modifies how burning Hero Points work. This also serves as an emergency panic button in case the Gemini is about to die from Quantum Friction.Existential Defrag: A replacement ability that's still a placeholder in a way. This allows you to quickly clear off Negative Schism in a pinch. Quantum Friction: Can't have an exalt without a drawback. This one's based on stellatedHexahedron's resource point idea. Also took the unique critical chart from Eisenritter's Demiurge and turned it inwards. In theory you have infinite Schism—infinitely negative that is. Unless you have some powerful spell/ability to prevent damage (to keep the fabric of reality in check), try to avoid getting telefragged with your partner. Double Trouble: An obvious ability I wish I should've thought of earlier. After all, you literally have another person with you. Placeholder: A more specific version of Luck in that, instead of a floating die for use on any roll, you simply use your partner's skills and characteristics instead of your own. It's great for messing with people as one moment you're darting around with a Laspistol and in the next you're dishing out heavy melee damage. Quick Shift: As a parallel to the werewolf's similar 3-dot gained power, because I couldn't come up with something better. Buy One Take One: Another obvious ability I wish I should've thought of earlier. It's very simple yet very effective. I'm somewhat fond of "exception-type" abilities, for example this one allows you to use two of the same Half Action in combat. The community-revised Daemonhost can spend resource to increase Focus Power tests by +1k0 (which you can't normally do). Splinter Twin: One of the earliest things I came up with. This capstone ability simply does the obvious: Separate from your partner for some sweet tandem action. As for the assets, these were the first ones developed when I was making this. Yes, they are all Jojo references and provide unique mechanics or change the Gemini's partner. They also have mild a drawback that the vanilla option doesn't have. D4CFor those who want to minimize the bookkeeping this exalt imposes. The only thing tracked separately is the pair's HP and critical damage. The biggest advantage this asset gives you is that you have to be killed multiple times before dying for good, or end up with tons of negative Schism. However you lose out on versatility to fill in role gaps in your team. Tattoo YouMy most favorite idea and the most difficult to implement. The original idea was that your Hit Points are evenly divided between a number of minions equal to your level+1 and their Threat Rating is equal to your Divergence. However it becomes a bit more complex when you consider how actually weak minions are and, at Level 1 or 2, a weapon of Blast 3 or greater will outright kill you. After a lot of Brainstorming with Username, I...think I finally got that bizarre union between player and minion squad by using your very Hit Points. Perhaps I should just make this an alternate exaltation. King CrimsonWell, this exalt was inspired by Doppio/Diavolo after all and it wouldn't make sense to not reference that. I had no idea what to put in here at first until Username suggested the ability to delay the switch by disappearing temporarily, which is marvelous and fits King Crimson's unpredictable nature. The only drawback I can see is that it's going to burn precious positive Schism with frequent use. Stardust CrusaderLiterally Stand User: the Asset, did you ever notice that some punchghosts never fight alongside their users? It's either one or the other who's doing most of the action, and that's the inspiration for their drawback. But hey, early access to Splinter Twin sounds powerful. Earth, Wind and FireNo major mechanical differences compared to the other assets, and seems to be a straight upgrade of the vanilla partner. The basic gimmick is sharing racial feats and powers by spending Schism. Although this wouldn't be much needed for a pair of Kythons. It's very lackluster so I'm thinking of adding another benefit that provides an alternate Splinter Twin use: A "hybrid" form that uses the highest of the pair's characteristics and skill dots.
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Gemini
Nov 27, 2018 19:48:22 GMT -6
Post by ScrapyardDragon on Nov 27, 2018 19:48:22 GMT -6
I have a question; can a Gemini share equipment with themselves? What happens if they both pick up artifacts? CAN they both pick up artifacts in a cumulative amount that exceeds 5?
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Gemini
Nov 27, 2018 20:00:44 GMT -6
Post by Amanojyaku on Nov 27, 2018 20:00:44 GMT -6
For the first one, pretty sure Doppia and Diavola did do that in Around the Wheel. For the second and third, that'd be a natural consequence of being two characters anyway.
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Gemini
Nov 27, 2018 22:16:22 GMT -6
Post by ScrapyardDragon on Nov 27, 2018 22:16:22 GMT -6
As far as the equipment bit goes, good to know I guess.
Now then, a followup comment. Double trouble is weird. The "you have an adjacent ally" bit works fine, but the aid another bit has weird questions to be brought up. The way its written, its the active character making the action, rather than the partner. Why is this important? Because it means that you can't have your partner aid you with say, tech-use, unless the active character has tech-use, even if the partner does have dots in that skill. Secondly; why? Why would you spend resource and a half action for a 1k0 bonus to a skill roll when you can just spend the resource on the skill roll normally?
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Gemini
Nov 27, 2018 22:40:39 GMT -6
Post by Amanojyaku on Nov 27, 2018 22:40:39 GMT -6
...maybe that should be "treat spending Schism on a skill test as if your partner had used an Aid Another action on you"?
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Gemini
Nov 28, 2018 4:58:59 GMT -6
Post by GuardianTempest on Nov 28, 2018 4:58:59 GMT -6
I have a question; can a Gemini share equipment with themselves? What happens if they both pick up artifacts? CAN they both pick up artifacts in a cumulative amount that exceeds 5? Yes, although I imagine you have to drop your item, swap, then pick it up. It's a weird workaround. The way you phrased that last question, of course you can, assuming the SM is generous enough to hand you more artifacts over the course of play. I can read your intention though, and the answer to that is "not individually, so the limit's 10 I guess?" Previous versions had them only have 4 background dots each among other modifications, or share background dots(?) but I probably changed that because "you're two player characters, might as well be equipped accordingly." This job thing is really making it hard for me to focus on actively monitoring everything, especially with the extracurricular activity of preparing a performance for one of the two upcoming christmas parties. However I'll still try to respond as soon as I find some free time. Now then, a followup comment. Double trouble is weird. The "you have an adjacent ally" bit works fine, but the aid another bit has weird questions to be brought up. The way its written, its the active character making the action, rather than the partner. Why is this important? Because it means that you can't have your partner aid you with say, tech-use, unless the active character has tech-use, even if the partner does have dots in that skill. Secondly; why? Why would you spend resource and a half action for a 1k0 bonus to a skill roll when you can just spend the resource on the skill roll normally? As for this one, it's an oversight because I had a simpler understanding of Aid Another. "Half Action +1k0 with additional bonuses depending on feats or Sword Schools." It took you THIS long to find that issue?!I'm pondering the idea of Earth Wind and Fire unlocking a "Hybrid Form" in Splinter Twin, a form whose skills and characteristics are the highest of the pair's members. So if Character A has STR 4 DEX 3 CON 2 while Character B has STR 2 DEX 5 CON 4, the hybrid will have STR 4 DEX 5 CON 4. Frankly the swap spells and martial techniques are a bit placeholder, the asset's theme is "better integration with each other" but I'm holding off on replacing the bits until further feedback.
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Gemini
Nov 28, 2018 20:39:31 GMT -6
Post by ScrapyardDragon on Nov 28, 2018 20:39:31 GMT -6
I'm pondering the idea of Earth Wind and Fire unlocking a "Hybrid Form" in Splinter Twin, a form whose skills and characteristics are the highest of the pair's members. So if Character A has STR 4 DEX 3 CON 2 while Character B has STR 2 DEX 5 CON 4, the hybrid will have STR 4 DEX 5 CON 4. Frankly the swap spells and martial techniques are a bit placeholder, the asset's theme is "better integration with each other" but I'm holding off on replacing the bits until further feedback. Well, what would be the activation cost? How long does it last? These are the real things that need to be known to judge the idea.
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Gemini
Nov 28, 2018 21:13:41 GMT -6
Post by Traskus on Nov 28, 2018 21:13:41 GMT -6
I'm pondering the idea of Earth Wind and Fire unlocking a "Hybrid Form" in Splinter Twin, a form whose skills and characteristics are the highest of the pair's members. So if Character A has STR 4 DEX 3 CON 2 while Character B has STR 2 DEX 5 CON 4, the hybrid will have STR 4 DEX 5 CON 4. Frankly the swap spells and martial techniques are a bit placeholder, the asset's theme is "better integration with each other" but I'm holding off on replacing the bits until further feedback. Well, what would be the activation cost? How long does it last? These are the real things that need to be known to judge the idea. I recommend using werewolf as a basis for this kind of thing.
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Gemini
Nov 28, 2018 21:17:52 GMT -6
Post by GuardianTempest on Nov 28, 2018 21:17:52 GMT -6
I'm pondering the idea of Earth Wind and Fire unlocking a "Hybrid Form" in Splinter Twin, a form whose skills and characteristics are the highest of the pair's members. So if Character A has STR 4 DEX 3 CON 2 while Character B has STR 2 DEX 5 CON 4, the hybrid will have STR 4 DEX 5 CON 4. Frankly the swap spells and martial techniques are a bit placeholder, the asset's theme is "better integration with each other" but I'm holding off on replacing the bits until further feedback. Well, what would be the activation cost? How long does it last? These are the real things that need to be known to judge the idea. I recommend using werewolf as a basis for this kind of thing. For the time being, I had hybrid form penned as just Splinter Twin but in reverse, maybe spend a Schism to access it. Although the Schism tax on each turn may justify not having an entry cost. I dunno.
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Gemini
May 24, 2019 13:04:29 GMT -6
Post by Traskus on May 24, 2019 13:04:29 GMT -6
A stupid idea I thought of but hey, might as well.
Fun Fun Fun Two's company, and three's a crowd. You may make a third character for your Shared Existence power. It only has 500 experience points to begin with. Double trouble has you count as having two allies, and Splinter Twin summons both your partners.
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Gemini
May 24, 2019 15:47:53 GMT -6
Post by ScrapyardDragon on May 24, 2019 15:47:53 GMT -6
I'd certainly play it, tripled characters mean you can have a party-in-one. Though at the same time that is probably a bit too much, idk, I'm not the best judge for such things. quick edit because I forgot to ask: why FUN FUN FUN dare I ask?
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Gemini
May 24, 2019 16:21:16 GMT -6
Post by Traskus on May 24, 2019 16:21:16 GMT -6
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Gemini
May 24, 2019 16:27:14 GMT -6
Post by ScrapyardDragon on May 24, 2019 16:27:14 GMT -6
I know WHAT fun fun fun is but why choose it as the name for 'third character'?
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Gemini
May 24, 2019 17:03:44 GMT -6
Post by Traskus on May 24, 2019 17:03:44 GMT -6
It's... it's three of the same thing.
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