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Gemini; Bad times ahead, but we are two of soul
Topic Started: Dec 4 2016, 08:51 AM (3,098 Views)
GuardianTempest
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+8:00 GMT || Unlucky & Miserable
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Thanks to Eisenritter and Username for help with ideas and balance, while another thanks to stellatedHexahedron for the resource point mechanics.


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 Powers

Shared Existence: Create two characters instead of one. The second character can be a different race, class, and alignment than the first, [tooltip=skipping the Exaltation step.]Because both characters share the same exaltation.[/tooltip] 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 their 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 [tooltip=Negative Schism divided by their Divergence, round down.]Example: With 8 points of Negative Schism, you would lose 4 Hit Points at Divergence 2 and only one at Divergence 5.[/tooltip] Critical damage that would be dealt this way is tracked separately from other sources and applies to both characters.

Optional Rule: Quantum Friction Critical Effects


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Power Stat: Divergence
Divergence 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: Schism
The 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.

Tell
A 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 to look bad for them 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 to make an Aid Another action on yourself.
✱✱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 summon your partner right beside you. 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 2 minutes in narrative time) to stay separated or be forcibly merged. You may return back to normal at the end of your turn, choosing who remains active upon doing so. If the pair is at least 2m apart when merging then they take 1d5 wounds plus one for every meter beyond the second. Critical damage dealt this way uses Quantum Friction's effects. The pair uses the same initiative roll made at the beginning of the encounter, which is always the lower of the two.


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Gemini Disparity Assets
Note: Both characters must spend 100 XP to purchase these assets.

D4C
Thanks 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. Using Placeholder increases the amount of rolled dice 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.

Tatoo You!
Your 'partner' is actually a minion mob that represents your Hit Points. These minions have a Threat Rating equal to your Divergence+1 (to a limit of 6), share your Resilience, and require damage rolls to diminish. Instead of using a Damage Rating, the mob rolls damage and adds +1k0 damage for every raise on their attack roll. Your mob fights using a copy of your weapon or deals (mob size)k2 damage. Switching allows you to fully disperse yourself or shed Hit Points for a number of minions up to (Divergence*2). You can regain HP by reintegrating your minions into yourself as a Full Action. When fully dispersed, effects that heal HP can restore lost minions and at least three of them are required to form your main self. Placeholder adds a static bonus equal to half your current HP rounded up (to a limit of +10).

King Crimson
A 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.
If one half of the Gemini dies for any reason, the other half manifests beside the corpse (if not currently using Splinter Twin). The survivor must spend Schism each day to continue living and has Stuff of Nightmares while in this state. Using Splinter Twin with a dead partner summons a deceased phantom who redirects all damage received to the still-living counterpart. When half of the Gemini's maximum Hit Points are recovered (excluding temporary HP), the dead partner is resurrected. The Gemini's Resilience is increased by the amount of Hit Points they would lose from Quantum Friction, and the critical damage it causes is tracked separately.

Stardust Crusader
Your partner is a level 1 monster made using the Monster Creation Rules. Your monster shares your Hit Points and uses your Schism for their Resource pool. Instead of the normal effects, Switching summons your monster beside you, which 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 Fire
The Gemini can spend a Schism as a Half Action to exchange one racial power or feat until the end of the scene, which can be done [tooltip=multiple times.]If you want to exchange multiple racial feats or get your racial power back before the end of the scene.[/tooltip] Placeholder allows the exchange of special attacks, trick shots, spells and spell combos. Racial powers and feats are shared while using Splinter Twin.
Edited by GuardianTempest, Yesterday, 6:10 AM.
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GuardianTempest
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+8:00 GMT || Unlucky & Miserable
Here we go, 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. In hindsight, I guess this also covers the Jekyll-Hide split-personality archetype (just change Quantum Friction to deal I damage to gizzards, I guess) This exalt was originally called "Switch" but I changed it to something better-sounding.

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 when the pair exalted.

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.

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: This is a more specific version of Luck in that, instead of a floating die for use on any roll, you can simply just use your partner's dots and characteristics instead of your own for a set number of times. 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.

Buy One Take One: Another obvious ability I wish I should've thought of earlier. It's very simple yet very effective.

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. Named after various stands from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, they all change the interaction with the Gemini's partner. They also have a drawback that the vanilla option doesn't have.

D4C
For those who want to minimize the bookkeeping this exalt imposes. The only thing tracked separately is the pair's critical damage and separate Hit Points. The biggest advantage this asset gives you is that you have to be killed twice within one day or retain a lot of negative Schism. However you lose out on the ability to fill in role gaps in your team.

Surface
What if your partner is an empty void and you fill it up with someone else? That was my thought that led to this asset. Essentially you become your teammates' second chance and a force multiplier. I can imagine things would get awkward when the imitation starts begging that you don't imprint another character.

Tattoo You
My 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 Crimson
Well, 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 Crusader
Literally 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 Fire
No major mechanical differences compared to the other assets, and seems to be a straight upgrade of the vanilla partner. The basic gimmick is that the Gemini's partner is of a different race and it seemed very lackluster at first...until I gave it the ability to share racial feats and powers by spending Schism. Although this wouldn't be much needed for a pair of Kythons. I'm thinking of sharing hindrances as well to help balance this asset.

I am very open for rewording suggestions
Edited by GuardianTempest, Dec 4 2016, 09:22 AM.
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Looks good so far. Only thing I see at a glance is that Buy one, Take one is phrased poorly. Normally you can perform a Half Action twice in your turn, it doesn't stress that in this case it can be the same type of half action.

Buy One Take One: You may perform the same category of Half Action twice in your turn.
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GuardianTempest
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Right-o, it is revised. Well, now to wait what the rest of the community thinks.

Well, good thing we stopped using PDFs or Tattoo You's gonna take 3 pages.
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Nobody Important

Now this, this is the Stand User Exaltation I've been looking for. I always felt the Atlantean as a Stand User (in the core book, anyway) was a bit of a cop-out.

I only have one real comment, and that's that you should probably clarify in Shared Existence that the two Gemini actually occupy the same body and space, which is implied but not directly stated.
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GuardianTempest
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Right on, I've added that.

I've also added a new asset because I like the idea (Notorious B.I.G.).

EDIT: Buffed Placeholder so that it can apply its bonuses for appropriate damage rolls like melee attacks.
Edited by GuardianTempest, Dec 5 2016, 08:16 AM.
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weredrago2
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I made two variants of the Shared Existence power. The first one is a straight adaption of the original power, maintaining its idiosyncrasies while using less words it. The second variant is more streamlined, removing most of the restrictions you put on character creation. I would suggest switching out the current power with one of the following, preferably the second one.

Version 1
Shared Existence: Create a secondary player character, using the same race as your current one and skipping the Choose your Exaltation step. This secondary character must have at least six characteristic dots and eight skill dots different from your primary character, and must start the game with a different class. Both of your characters start with 600 XP and four background dots each, which must be spent in different ways. Feats, general assets, hindrances with internal consequences, and derived stats (besides hit points) are kept separate, while Divergence, Schism, Hero Points, Exaltation assets, and hindrances with external consequences are shared. Both characters share a pool of Hit Points equal to the average of their individual Hit Points when calculated normally. Critical Damage is tracked separately for each character unless caused by Quantum Friction, but both characters will die if one of them does. Both characters gain the same amount of experience points and spend them separate from one another.

Version 2
Shared Existence: Create a secondary player character, using the same race as your current one and skipping the Choose your Exaltation step. Both of your characters start with 600 XP and four background dots each. Feats, general assets, hindrances, and derived stats (besides Hit Points) are kept separate, while Divergence, Schism, Hero Points, and Exaltation assets are shared. Both characters share a pool of Hit Points equal to the average of their individual Hit Points when calculated normally. Critical Damage is tracked separately for each character unless caused by Quantum Friction, but both characters will die if one of them does. Both characters gain the same amount of experience points and spend them separate from one another.
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GuardianTempest
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Thank you for your input, I admit that was a mouthful so I appreciate it.
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weredrago2
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Personally, I'd use this Exalt to play a superhero like Captain Marvel or Darkhawk, with one half of the character being a Novice skillmonkey and the other being a Street Samurai combat monster. The Sammy's background dots would all go into Artifacts and Inheritance, because sometimes you need Power Armor and Jump Jets.
Edited by weredrago2, Dec 9 2016, 09:11 AM.
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It occurs to me that a mundane utility of Splinter Twin is that it allows you to switch characters as a free action instead of half, since you can summon your buddy at the start of your turn and then switch to the other instantly as another free action.

The Skillmonkey/Combat Monster setup is a really good one for this Exaltation since then you're useful in combat and out of it, but it does hamper the benefits of Splinter Twin.
Edited by Username, Dec 9 2016, 07:08 PM.
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