a boy and his shadow

[faenril]

One of my player want to create a weird concept: I explain, he want aguy with no powers who have a shadow which protect him can gives him with several powers (several immunities and some others powers). He can project this shadow and use it at distance but when he have not the shadow with him, he is not protected... Any advices ?

[Strand0]

He should have Flaws on some of his powers that they "don't work if using the powers on targets that are farther than 5 feet away". So, if the PC sent his shadow out to grab someone (Telekinesis), he cannot have his shadow shielding (Force Field) him from any attacks.

The list should be specific so that you avoid arguments during the game.

[Agun_de_Merak]

make the shadow the principal character and the guy his sidekicks. uuse forcefield and extra for the protective effect or deflection with a power stunt giving a +2 to his deflection check when playing bodyguard or some thin like that. and add a weakness like powerless in bright light. just some idea.

[faenril]

Via MSN I have discussed with my player who will come this afternoon to create his character. Here is some other details he told me,I am looking at the log and translate:

- he does not want the teenager to be the sidekick of the shadow (it was a good idea Agun), he watnts to play the teenager.

- the shadow express (apparently) no emotion, it is only a shadow, however what is it really ? The shadow is somewhat a symbolic projection of the boy's powers

- a normal hero can have he poison immunity, in the boy cas, it is the shadow who protect the boy from the poison

- a normal hero may have telekinesis and use it to lift objects; in the case of the boy it is the shadow who can bring the onject for the boy

- there is an empathic link between the boy and the shadow , the boy ask the shadow for service, but who know if the shadow will always obey ?

- the shadow of the boy is visible, moreover if she have to part from the boy to do something

- and for those who oberve the shadow carefully, she si not the "exact" reflection of the boys's shadow under the sun, smetimes the shadow has some move independently of those of the boy

- when I ask my player whether the shadow can act in the darkness or nor and whether she could be harmed or not. the player does not know M & M and does not know how many powers will have the shadow however, he told me that the shadow is always active and that she is vulberable as soons as she left the boy and the boy become vulnerable from whatever the shadow protected him.

- When the shadow is with him, the only thing she can do is passive protection (immunities, protection, amazing save, whatever she has)

- When she is not with him, she can act physically and use her others powers (telekinesis, whatever...).

Any idea to help me design his charcater (it will be PL10) ?

[mgg]

Just because the boy is purchased as a sidekick doesn't mean he can't be controlled by the player. Read the box on page 48 for a similar example.

[haferka]

Make the sidekick the shadow with these powers:
Alternate Form (shadow) E: Continuous, F:Always On, F:Missing Effect (movement) [OPTIONAL: F:Touch] The kid must touch his shadow in order to animate it.
Reincarnate E:Never Say Die

Weakness:
Disabled (Parapalegic) - The parapalegic simulates the inability to move farther than 5ft (melee range) from the main character.
OPTIONAL: Disabled(Mute), Suseptable(Sunlight), Vulnerable(light) - The suseptable sunlight seems harsh untill you take a closer look, You could simply say that it , becomes a normal shadow in sunlight. The kid could fix this by using his energy control(shadow). But that makes him a perfect target for light attacks, which the shadow is vulnerable too.

Kids Powers:
Energy Control (Darkness)
etc...

With a decent Leadership score the kid could have a PL9 shadow with a couple weeknesses that actually make sense. I could easily think of some cool power combos to go along with this, but I will leave that up 2 you.

The reason behind the Reincarnate power is simply to counter the flaws, You don't want the guy to be gone to long, although you can easily take it out of the adventure that way, in case you want to temporarily weaken the kid.

I would probably give the kid animation(shadows) and probably give the shadow sidekick whirlwind and similar combat feats.

Don't fall victim to the "Must have FF & armor, etc.." trap. You could easily give the kid evasion, Dex, and a little Amazing save(dex) eliminating any damage saves. You might want to give the shadow sidekick a healing(Empathic) so It can sacrifice itself to save the kid.

There I go. I better stop before I spend all your points...

[faenril]

Make the sidekick the shadow with these powers:
Alternate Form (shadow) E: Continuous, F:Always On, F:Missing Effect (movement) [OPTIONAL: F:Touch] The kid must touch his shadow in order to animate it.
Reincarnate E:Never Say Die

Weakness:
Disabled (Parapalegic) - The parapalegic simulates the inability to move farther than 5ft (melee range) from the main character.
OPTIONAL: Disabled(Mute), Suseptable(Sunlight), Vulnerable(light) - The suseptable sunlight seems harsh untill you take a closer look, You could simply say that it , becomes a normal shadow in sunlight. The kid could fix this by using his energy control(shadow). But that makes him a perfect target for light attacks, which the shadow is vulnerable too.

Kids Powers:
Energy Control (Darkness)
etc...

With a decent Leadership score the kid could have a PL9 shadow with a couple weeknesses that actually make sense. I could easily think of some cool power combos to go along with this, but I will leave that up 2 you.

The reason behind the Reincarnate power is simply to counter the flaws, You don't want the guy to be gone to long, although you can easily take it out of the adventure that way, in case you want to temporarily weaken the kid.

I would probably give the kid animation(shadows) and probably give the shadow sidekick whirlwind and similar combat feats.

Don't fall victim to the "Must have FF & armor, etc.." trap. You could easily give the kid evasion, Dex, and a little Amazing save(dex) eliminating any damage saves. You might want to give the shadow sidekick a healing(Empathic) so It can sacrifice itself to save the kid.

There I go. I better stop before I spend all your points...

Nice ideas . The extra continuous is not needed with the Permanent Flaw(as per errata). but it is a cool concept

[haferka]

Nice ideas . The extra continuous is not needed with the Permanent Flaw(as per errata). but it is a cool concept

Where is this.. The way I read the Extras / Flaws section ..
The Flaw(Permanant) only applys to powers that are already continuous. So any power that is not already continuous must take the extra continuous (possibly multiple times)

[faenril]

Nice ideas . The extra continuous is not needed with the Permanent Flaw(as per errata). but it is a cool concept

Where is this.. The way I read the Extras / Flaws section ..
The Flaw(Permanant) only applys to powers that are already continuous. So any power that is not already continuous must take the extra continuous (possibly multiple times)

Yes but the flaw is not a flaw anymore if you have to take one or more extra to use it . The book says "a continuous effect is made permanent...", the officiel errata says "an effect is made permanent..."

see http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/files/errata.pdf see page 3 of the PDF document "P.98: PERMANENT"

[Sagittary]

Alternate possibility is to create the base boy and give him powers, the special effect being his shadow. Flaw the powers as appropiate (ie protection would have a Limited flaw against Light and Restricted by needing shade, etc) and give the boy a Kryptonite type weakness (Basically without shade, he's powerless). As it is, the shadow seems to be basically special effect on the power. Whether it's a psychic moving something via TK or a shadow doing the same, the end result (Barring flaws) is that something is being moved at a distance.

[faenril]

Can he take the obvious flaw on protection (the shadow interpoze and is clearly visible) ?

[mgg]

I don't think that is a flaw, any more than witnessing bullets bounce of superman's skin. If the kid is always wrapped in shadow, it might be a flaw depending on the GM.

[Quantum]

To me, after getting his powers in order, add the restriction that his powers require his shadow to be present. So if he's in total darkness, he has no shadow till light is available.

[faenril]

In fact it is not e real shadow, it is a shadow inside him, it can act eveni in sunlight, finally it has been designed like a special effect of the boys powers.

[faenril]

Nice ideas . The extra continuous is not needed with the Permanent Flaw(as per errata). but it is a cool concept

I want to apologise, in effect the duration must be bought to continuous.

Mea culpa.

[Gamer X]

You could certainly explain the shadow as just a side effect of the powers, and build the boy as a normal character.

BUT... if you build the shadow as a sidekick, you're defining it as a separate entity. By Faenril's definition, a symbiotic entity that for whatever reason, needs the boy in order to live.

Which would YOU say is more interesting?

Thoughts:
1) The shadow is an extra dimensional creature attached to the boy's life force as a "birth present" by the boy's uncle/god father/grandparent/etc., who just happens to be a sorceror. He summoned the shadow as a protective spirit/demon/force to guard over the boy, whom the sorceror has predicted will become his successor someday.

2) The shadow is a creation of the boy's subconscious, like a split-personality, that eventually will try to take over the body and destroy the boy's personality. The more the boy uses the shadow, the more powerful it becomes until one day, say when the PC crests a certain level, the shadow will have become strong enough to take control - treat as a Transformative weakness - under certain conditions.

Likewise, the boy could eventually come to grips with this "darker side" of himself and take the shadow back into himself, gaining all its powers but destroying its persona.


These are just off the top of my head. I love this concept and may develop it further for my own use. Let us know what you and your player end up with, Faenril!

Gamer X

[faenril]

In fact we have played last saturday and it was well , he just has constructed the shadow as its own powers as a set of powers, she can act in day or in night, the people watching the boy can see that it is not a normal one, one example, he have telekinesis with the obious flaw at rank 5, it is the shadow who take the objects. others powers he have 5 immunities, mental protection, protection, fatigue and obcure.