[Jeeves]

I'm attempting to make a serial killer character. Similar to a protagonist from a particular trid show about a serial killer who kills killers. I'm wondering if there's rules anywhere for addictions to things other than substances, such as addiction to sex, to killing, and so on. I did find somewhere that someone made a house-rule for a negative quality for sociopaths. Gives 10 BP and character must make a willpower test at a -2 to resist killing a person if it's the easiest solution to a problem. That kinda works, but it doesn't cover the whole "need to kill" thing. any ideas?

[Black]

Maybe the same way drug addiction is played.  Start with a mild addiction and increase as time goes on (if you want to play the escalation aspects of this character type).  The longer the character goes without the 'Kill' of the right sort, the shacker they become.  Might double the BP benefit as is not exactly the same as getting a fix of Cram or Jazz.  Would restrict the 'kill' to a certain type, or too easy (corp security guard should not be an acceptable type).  And maybe the 'kill' needs to be personal, guilt confirmed etc.

Maybe be hard to actually play this type of character without being disruptive to the group though.  Depends on the player and group.

[sway]

You should probably look at Augmentation Addiction, just substituting "killing specific type of victim" for "getting more cyberware implants".

[jonathanc]

Most players manage to act like sociopaths in-game without the need for incentives.

[Fabe]

maybe the mania/phobia negative quality from  Augmentation would work.

[JustADude]

Most players manage to act like sociopaths in-game without the need for incentives.

Not really. There's a very distinct difference between a sociopath... someone who is screwed in the head so that they are literally incapable of certain intrinsic human emotions, such as guilt or empathy... and someone who has merely become acclimated to distrust, violence, and amoral behavior.

[Ryo]

I would personally rule that being a serial killer would be a variant of the Prejudiced quality, combined with an Addiction, for a BP value between 10 and 35.

The player would first have to determine their preferred victim, which is like the Prevalence section of Prejudiced, granting BP based on whether its a common target (women) or a specific target (Pretty white women with long blonde hair between the ages of 18 and 21). Common is worth 5 BP, Specific is worth 0 BP.

Next, they determine the complexity of their MO. A serial killer is a creature of habit, and when succumbing to their need to kill, it does not count if they break their rituals, so they have to follow their MO in order to get their fix. This would have three ratings of difficulty: Simple, which has at least two specific requirements, like weapon used and method of kill. (Single gunshot to the base of the skull), Involved, which must have at least three specific requirements (Must restrain victim with rope, kill them with a hunting knife, then dispose of their body by cutting it up into 10 parts.), and Complex, which has four or more specific requirements. (Must perform kill in an operating room, with a scalpel, by vivisection, then dump the body in a specific river.) Simple is worth 5 BP, Involved 10 BP, and Complex 15 BP.

Finally, they must determine the severity of their need to kill, from Mild to Severe. This determines how often they need to kill, as well as the penalty they take to resist the urge should they exceed this time frame. Mild need (5 bp) must be sated once a year, and upon exceeding that timeframe without killing a victim, you take a -2 penalty to all checks to resist the urge until you do kill a victim. Moderate need (10 bp) must be sated once a month, and you take a -4 penalty if you exceed it. Severe (15 bp) must be sated once a week, and you take a -6 penalty if you exceed it.

The player must roll a Composure (2) Test in order to resist his primal urges to kill, and should be asked to roll whenever confronted by a victim that fits their MO.

And an easy to read table, for your convenience:

Type of Victim

Prevalence	BP Value
Common (I.E. women)	5 BP
Specific (I.E. pretty white women with long blonde hair between 18 and 21)	0 BP

Modus Operandi

Difficulty	BP Value	Required Details
Simple	5 BP	2 specifics (I.E. weapon used and method of kill)
Involved	10 BP	3 specifics (I.E. weapon, method and disposal)
Complex	15 BP	4 specifics (I.E. location, weapon, method, and disposal)

Need

Severity	BP Value	Timeframe	Penalty for exceeding
Mild	5 BP	1 year	-2 to Composure
Moderate	10 BP	1 month	-4 to Composure
Severe	15 BP	1 week	-6 to Composure

The Test

What	When
Composure (2) Test	Whenever confronted by a potential victim

[Xzylvador]

Doesn't this fall under Poor Self Control (Compulsion, Serious)?

[Ryo]

Doesn't this fall under Poor Self Control (Compulsion, Serious)?

That would be a simple way of doing it, but that doesn't cover the 'need to kill' that the OP said he was going for, plus a compulsion to kill people isn't quite sufficient to showcase all the details a real serial killer has to take into account when planning and executing his kills. The player could just add this as flavor to his compulsion, but it seems appropriate to reward players who make things harder for themselves with more BP, rather than the 5-15 provided by a Compulsion. Prejudiced provides a pretty good template to use in approaching that.

[raggedhalo]

And, of course, by taking it as a Negative Quality should should expect that a decent GM will bring it up and make life difficult for your character as a result.

[CitizenJoe]

A negative quality that doesn't affect the character is not worth any build points.

[silveralen]

An alternate way of running a serial killer, using qualities already present.

1. Prejudiced against preferred victim. If you prefer someone less classically serial killer, and more heartless killer, go with combat monster here instead.

2. Compulsion to begin targeting victim, or become obsessed by an appropriate one. In a combat situation, this would mean targeting that enemy first. Outside of combat this represents a more methodical killer, stalking/planning the kill. If using prejudiced, obviously that defines the victim, otherwise some other trigger will need to be established.

3. Compulsion to kill target after predetermind amount of build up.

So more or less 3 negative traits all tied together. It should be really the only negative qualities a character takes. It also represents a character who actively fights their impulses, which may not be what you are going for. I had a character run one like this, it worked reasonably well, and since player and the composure tests indicated he was fighting it, it kept the level of discomfort within reason.

That is the main reason I prefer compulsion to addiction in this case, it let's the character fight it to a greater degree.

[Thrass]

compulsive behaviour does cover the "need to kill" or better said "not be able to not kill"
compulsive behaviour is a medical term that is closely related to tourette (the not ability to control ones words and the like) and would imho cover the not ability to control ones needs to kill someone
also this would be a very compulsive need and in no way a planning ahead to destroy victim X serial killer thing...
if you want to make an assassin that kills in accordance to rules or ethics (maybe shadowrunner ethics or honor... bushido or whatever it is) this will not do it
if you want to specifically kill the killers... this will probably not do it
and if you are heading that way maybe a mixture of prejudiced, combat monster, vindictive (and maybe drug addiction) would be a better choice

so far from my medical understanding... which is far from being e recitable source of knowledge

the rules book mentions obsessively breaking into high security nodes for a decker so...
rules wise you could argue you have a compulsive obsession to search and destroy serial killers and just use the poor self control Compulsive Quality for 15BP (or maybe 10 if it's just about wanna be killers that are way below your league)

[ArkangelWinter]

@Thrass:
Actually, most serial killers suffer from what is classified as compulsive behavior. (I'm not talking out  my @$$, my ex-wife has a Masters in Psychology and I got to hear this rant a hundred times). They have a psychological need not just to kill, but to do so in a particular way in a particular type of situation at particular time intervals. The sad truth is that most target things they find like, often as a way of exerting control over the objects of their attraction. A series of compulsions, anywhere from 2 to 4 or 5 would describe the "need" to follow the MO, but nothing RAW really represents just how bad the compulsion really gets (except maybe a set of Severe addictions)

[Jeeves]

So, Compulsive and prejudice against victim type. I can deal with that. Since the compulsive quality describes hacking max security nodes as 15, i'll go with 15.

Thanks guys!