Homebrew Archtype: Gimmick Master

Games Sentinel Comics RPG
#1

Some people say your power is strange or funny, just about everyone says you are a one trick pony only good enough to be a guest star of the week. But the fighter who has practiced a kick a thousand times is stronger then the one who has practiced a thousand kicks once. And you are good with your gimmick.

Increase the size of one of the dice you rolled at the end of the power source step by one to a maximum of d12. Assign that die to one of the following powers, making it your Gimmick
. Signature Weapon or Vehicle
. Select from Element/Energy
. Select from Materials
. Select from Self Control
. Power Armor

Decrease all remaining dice that you rolled at the end of the power source step by one, to a minimum of a d6. Assign these dice to any of these qualities
. Any Information qualities category
. Any Mental qualities category
.Any Social qualities category
. Any Physical qualities category

Gain the following Green ability

Obvious Strength, Obvious Weakness |I| Increase any bonus or penalty used for any action involving your gimmick by one, to a maximum of +/- 4. If applying multiple modifiers to the same roll, apply this effect to only one bonus and one penalty.

Gain two of the following Green abilities

Old Reliable |A| [choose basic action] with your Gimmick, use your Max die.

Strained Flexability|A| Preform any two basic actions with your Gimmick, using your Mid die for both. Decrease your Gimmick die size by one for the rest of the scene.

Tune Up |A| Boost yourself using [quality]. Either use your Max die, or your Mid die and increase your Gimmick die power by one if it is below its starting value.

Gain one of the following Yellow abilities

Gimmick Guard |R| When you or a nearby ally would take damage, defend by rolling your Gimmick die. Then either hinder yourself with that roll or decrease your Gimmick power by one die.

Enough for Everyone |A| [Attack or Hinder] multiple targets using your Gimmick die, applying your mid die to each.

In addition to the normal list, the following Red ability is available to you when you select Red abilities.

Ultimate Sacrifice |A| Overcome using your Gimmick and at least one bonus. Use you Max + Mid + Min die. In addition to any twists that occur, you may not use your Gimmick power until it has been repaired, healed, or replaced.

Choose an Expertise Principle or the Principle of Dependence

Roll d10 d10 for personality selection

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#2

Uh, aren’t we not supposed to post homemade stuff on here, @moderators?

#3

I’ve posted a new villain archtype and three adventures without issue, and the rules don’t say anything about it. So if it is against forum rules to post homebrew RPG stuff its not posted in the forum rules, but i will take it down. I would in that case like some clarification in the rules about what is and isn’t ok. If I make an adventure i want to put up for other people to play and it uses all things from the rulebook, is that alright? What if i give the villain a unique villain upgrade and thats the only thing thats new?

Ironically, atting the moderaters -is- against rule 13 ( When you need a moderator to step in and handle issues, do it through the proper channels. Don’t create a new thread or post in the current topic about it. Find us, and we’ll take care of it.) which I feel like is kind of strange. I guess you’re supposed to PM them?

But these rules are from 2011 and a few new GtG products have come out since then and they likely need to be updated.

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#4

Quick info:

  • GTG folks are looking at updating the rules
  • We’re trying to get clarification from them on what folks shouldn’t post here, but for now I’d assume anything that can be created using the rules is fair game (e.g., heroes, villains, environments and adventures) but customization of existing rules probably shouldn’t be. Their concern in the past has been that we’d post something similar to something they were going to publish, which becomes a sticky legal area. :confused: But we’ll get clarification ASAP.
  • Don’t worry about anything you’ve already posted until you hear back from someone. And don’t stress it – the rules don’t say anything about this, so it’s all good. :sunglasses:

On topic, I haven’t actually created a character using this, but I find it interesting that it means none of the abilities you choose during Power Source can apply to your Gimmick. But given how it seems to make the character will be ridiculously good at that Gimmick, that’s probably for the best… :wink:

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#5

But isn’t that always the case?

#6

What I’m understanding from Rabit’s point is that Powers taken from your Power Source can’t be used in abilities for this archetype. While some archetypes have stipulations on what power/quality is used for the abilities it is not alway set. Reality Shaper and Gadgeteer, for instance, don’t specify that I habe use powers chosen from the archetype for the abilities I choose.

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#7

This in addition to the fact that the archtype is meant to be a one-trick pony that will end up having multiple abilities that don’t use that gimmick. This isn’t meant as a criticism, just an observation around how it will work. :slight_smile:

If I can make time, I will try to create my teleporter with this to see how it plays out. He really is a one-trick pony (portals), so making him in the current structure was a challenge, but it worked out. I have a feeling this might fit better, but it’ll be interesting to see how much it differs from his current build. :smiley:

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#8

This may need a spin-off thread, but… I hope that this isn’t the direction that they plan to go.

I know that this is a concern that some fiction writers have (although I’ve never seen it actually be threatened by anyone with a reasonable chance of arguing it in court) but it’s absolutely wild to apply it to an RPG. I don’t think there’s a single major RPG out there that doesn’t have people posting entirely new homebrew on their forums (well, I suppose the exception is Wizards of the Coast, who don’t have forums to post on at all.)

Paizo has entire subforums dedicated to people making their own homebrew. Forged in the Dark links to homebrew that the creator finds particularly exciting or interesting. The Onyx Path forums have tons of homebrew intermixed with discussion, with developers chatting with fans about their ideas.

Homebrew is one of the biggest ways that RPGs stay alive, and a mandate that you can’t create it on your RPG’s main community feels like a move that will be harsh for the long-term success of a product.

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#9

This makes me realize I actually kind of need something like this? I have so many characters who have just one power, that can’t be easily realized as many smaller powers, and this system just hates those kinds of heroes.

#10

It’s definitely doable to have a hero like that without homebrew, with the right Background and Power Source, but it’s certainly not easy. Normally, my advice is the following:

  1. Pick a Background that gives a d10 or d12 Power die, and doesn’t have a lot of d8s. The best three are Academic, Retired, and Interstellar, but any of the d10/d8/d6 spreads will do.

  2. Pick a Power Source that has Athletic or Intellectual, plus the power you want. Don’t pick one that gives you an extra power. Stick your high die into your chosen power, and then take a d8 in Awareness, Deduction, or Presence and round out with some Agility or Vitality. Flavour both of the others as general hero-stuff rather than actual super-powers. This works particularly well with Nature, Radiation, Tech Upgrades, Artificial Being, and Extradimensional, each of which has Abilities that don’t key off powers and thus lets you only use one power die for your special tricks.

  3. Pick an Archetype that doesn’t give you extra powers, which has your chosen power on its list of options, and which has Abilities that key off qualities or are flat (which is honestly almost all of them). Use all your Archetype dice on Qualities, and have Abilities that key off your prime power or your Qualities.

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#11

This archtype came about because I am going to be doing a game called Deathwish, starring a group of C list villains forced to do the dirty work of the government. A completely unique idea that no one has had before. But a lot of C list villains tend to be gimmcky because they don’t have to carry whole storylines on their own, so here we are

This was like 30 minutes of work to make though, so like i don’t swear on it being super great?

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