Page 1 of 1

Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 5:40 pm
by RUSCHE
I always wondered how to model Frank Castle's ability to soak up damage. He seems beyond most street level individuals without powers to take damage. How would you model this?
Would it be great endurance with heroes point spent to remove a condition or is it just how you would role play him?

On a side note I always thought he stamina score to be a 5 or 6. Thoughts?

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 6:04 pm
by badpenny
There are two differences in play:
  1. Fiction vs RPG
  2. Team vs solo character
In fiction, the author controls everything: from when/if the hero gets hurt, the degree s/he does so, and so on.

In an RPG, a team-player can rely on allies to pull their fat from the fire vs a solo character who needs to have all their resources on their sheet (and who might get more points to do so). This is where you see people who model heroes quite often not compromising when it comes to a build and goes over a given PL's point ceiling, e.g. PL 10 but based on 200 points, say.

What that means is if you're trying to put the Punisher on a team, a number of these things have to be considered.

Specifically to game mechanics: there are a number of ways to model Toughness (in both senses of the word). Since it's an effect-based game, you could always buy him more Toughness with a different descriptor. This is just like buying more Damage and calling it "Find Weakness."

Being hard to hit is also a factor. You could always buy Enhanced Defense as Toughness or Regeneration or whatever and if you're hit within that threshold, you apply that descriptor, i.e. instead of "you missed me," it's "you hit, but I shrugged it off."

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 6:18 pm
by RUSCHE
Thank you the response first off. And I see solo vs team is more of a flavor and shifting points and descriptors. This is one of the reasons I like 3e vs other types of supers rpgs. My first was old Marvel tsr. In 1984. Again thank you for the input. Heck some writers have him almost have a supernatural ability to soak up the damage.

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 10:49 pm
by Ken
My suggestion:

Soaking Damage: Regeneration 3, Subtle 2, Quirk: doesn't work vs the last damage taken during the encounter. Descriptor: Painfully Stubborn.

Basically, he takes the damage, and it doesn't really look like the damage is healing, but it's not incapacitaing either.

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 11:53 pm
by RUSCHE
Thanks Ken. I like your idea on how to model the power/advantage.

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:43 am
by JDRook
RUSCHE wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2017 5:40 pm I always wondered how to model Frank Castle's ability to soak up damage. He seems beyond most street level individuals without powers to take damage. How would you model this?
I'm a big fan of using Half-Effect Immunities. For instance, HE-Immune to Bludgeoning would halve all punches and other blunt attacks for only 10p. Similar Immunities to Bullets or Blades could also be used. Half-Effect vs all Physical Toughness would be 27p.

I also came up with something I called

Plot Armor: Protection 10 (+10 Toughness; Limited: does not protect against -1 Toughness penalties) - 5p

or "Luck Armor" or whatever. It's a way to give traditionally flimsy PCs the ability to take a lot more hits without suffering from higher damage degrees. The custom limit makes it, so clear it with your GM. It can be any amount, but for simplicity it should be an even rank and 10 is ideal to keep the math simple when calculating degrees.

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 9:32 pm
by RUSCHE
JDRook wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:43 am
RUSCHE wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2017 5:40 pm I always wondered how to model Frank Castle's ability to soak up damage. He seems beyond most street level individuals without powers to take damage. How would you model this?
I'm a big fan of using Half-Effect Immunities. For instance, HE-Immune to Bludgeoning would halve all punches and other blunt attacks for only 10p. Similar Immunities to Bullets or Blades could also be used. Half-Effect vs all Physical Toughness would be 27p.

I also came up with something I called

Plot Armor: Protection 10 (+10 Toughness; Limited: does not protect against -1 Toughness penalties) - 5p

or "Luck Armor" or whatever. It's a way to give traditionally flimsy PCs the ability to take a lot more hits without suffering from higher damage degrees. The custom limit makes it, so clear it with your GM. It can be any amount, but for simplicity it should be an even rank and 10 is ideal to keep the math simple when calculating degrees.
Ok, I love this. Thank you for your help.

Re: Punisher and well punishment.

Posted: Sun May 28, 2017 6:20 pm
by Skaramine
This is cool. I think I'll use one of these to rewrite my Turn of the Century adventuress.