Converting the Garrote to MP

Based on a G+ thread raised by Toric

I mostly republished this as a teaching exercise in things you can do with the MP rules.  There is an official version of the garrote in the MP edition of Intercrime Hostile Takeover, but frankly I don't feel like it captures the lethality of the VnV source weapon, nor does it capture the flavor of the "enigmatic deadly assassin weapon" either.  So, anyway, here you go.

Toric opened the can of worms

The VnV version of the Intercrime Assassins are equipped with garrotes. I'm not sure how to build a garrote in MP. In the module, the garrote is +1 to hit, must make special attack from behind to the neck, HTH damage to power only, target must make a d20 save vs Endurance or be knocked out and then if strangulation continues for one turn past when the target is knocked out, the target is dead.

My monologue on modelling the garrote

Well, now you've opened that old "Fort Save or Die" can of worms :-)

One of the most brilliant parts of VnV 2.x was the ability to create powers and abilities that broke the rules, without actually breaking the rules. Lovely and flexible toolkit, that.

Abilities like Death Touch and Garrote in 2e are literally "save or die" abilities - they break every design rule behind things like Hit Points, Power Score, Stun Points, Recovery Saves, blah, blah, whatever you want to call it by game system.

This is why a LOT of DnD spells changed from "save or die" to "does X number of hit points damage" or "save every round to shake off the effect" between DnD 2e to 3e, and even more from 3e to 3.5e - players hate having their characters taken out by "save or die" effects. It just sucks.

Now, "save or die" effects are also anathema to point-buy game systems, because the entire function of a point-buy system is to have a certain inherent balance to things.

Somewhere on the MHG forums, someone did a brilliant breakdown of how the damaging powers of Mighty Protectors could be reconstructed using Power Blast as the root, plus Modifiers. It turns out the various damaging powers - including Death Touch - are balanced against each other.

Now, speaking of Death Touch, you can see how it changed from VnV to MP as an example of what I mean how "save or die" sucks and doesn't play well with point-buy.

MP Death Touch does Hit Point damage. It's heavily unavoidable, so the target can die quickly, but now the number of hit points actually matters. Behemoth, with his phat pile of HP, can no longer be wiped out instantly by a failed EN save (and, given his EN is 11, he's at even odds of instant death). Instead, Behemoth can soak a LOT of zaps from MP Death Touch.

So, six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other. Same as was seen in DnD, the "I am a god!" effect players used to enjoy inflicting on enemies is gone, but the "Well, that SUCKED!" effect players used to suffer from "save or die" effects is also gone.

However, as +Jeff Dee points out, MP remains unusual (like it's predecessor) in that it retains a built-in mechanism for allowing players to "break the rules" without breaking the rules.

That is, the Miscellaneous Modifier (p. 92), which is a catch-all for "the player came up with something not well represented by any other combination of rules, so let's make something up, and give it a cost based on how much it torques the game."

Soooo, to answer your question, to recreate a garrote, I might go something like:

Garrote - Paralysis Ray: EN Save at -2 (15), Modifiers: Accuracy +1 (+2.5), Gear (-5), Requires Special Attack (-5), Negated by Adaptation to Asphyxiation, or Life Support (-5), Different Damage Type (Special) (+10), Requires 2 Hands (-2.5), Miscellaneous Modifier (if target is knocked unconscious, attacker can spend entire next round continuing to strangle the victim, and the victim dies, end of discussion, game over, roll up a new character) (+20) (30 CP)