[lord_shadow_666]

Well the question for me is which is more fun to play as, is the Dzoo's regeneration, essence loss worth it compared to the better physical stats of the Fomoraig?

After looking at making a prime runner I started thinking of my own spare character which is infected, not sure how I want to play it, might go either adept or full on street sam. The infection comes in after any enhancements as he is a test subject to a round of experiments that infects him. Armour wise he is in a heavy military prototype with a ballistic shield to give some extra defense. I am aiming to go tanking possibly close combat too, which is a change from my normal sniping, he can use his shield and assault rifle at the same time with no hindrance thanks to the GM.

So what are the pros and cons of taking either, keeping in mind I am aiming for a tank more than anything else at the moment, either adept or sam.

Current regen roll is 14 dice, body of 12 magic rating 2 but then again I could take a Fomoraig which allows me to hit that bit harder but then again it does eat through its own armour or is there a way to stop the secretions doing things?

[Reaver]

all I got to say is :



Infected are monsters....

Monsters are feared and hunted, and have bounties on their heads....

When Monsters encounter well armed, probably sociopathic, out-for-money individuals, Monsters die and get turned into cash.

Running Wild pg 66

Dzoo -Noo -Qua
A troll Infected with HMHVV I, the dzoo-noo-qua is a grotesque
and frightening figure. The disease causes the troll’s dermal
deposits to become grossly irregular, spiky, and nodular. Muscle
mass is also increased, and skin color typically fades, though it’s
not certain whether this is a condition brought on by the disease
or by the dzoo-noo-qua’s nocturnal habits. Transformation from
troll to dzoo-noo-qua is usually extremely traumatic; this often,
but not always, radically diminishes intellectual capacities.
Natural Habitat: Inhabited areas worldwide, often in sewers
or abandoned buildings.
B   A   R   S   C   I   L   W   EDG   ESS   M  Init   IP
9    2    5   8    1  3   2   4     3      2D6–1  3   8      2
Movement: 15/35
Skills: Athletics skill group 2, Counterspelling 3, Intimidation 3,
Perception 4, Unarmed Combat 4
Powers: Armor (4/4), Enhanced Senses (Thermographic Vision),
Essence Drain, Infection, Magical Guard (self only), Natural
Weapon (Bite/Claw: DV (Str÷2) + 2P, AP 0), Regeneration,
Sapience
Weaknesses: Allergy (Sunlight, Mild), Dietary Requirement
(Metahuman Flesh), Essence Loss
Notes: Dzoo-noo-qua have +1 Reach. Some dzoo-noo-qua may
have the Adept, Magician, or Mystic Adept qualities

In short, you live on raw meta-human flesh.... AND you expect the other runners to be fine with you??? What happens when a run goes south and you have to hide out in a safe house for a couple of weeks with the rest of the crew? What do you do? Eat homeless people?? Just eat the little fingers of your crew?


OR, do they say "frag that!" put a couple dozen rounds into you, and turn you in for the $3000 no questions asked reward?

[Novocrane]

Don't discourage someone from playing a character purely on personal bias. If a run goes south, there's nothing saying the infected troll will even end up in the same safehouse as the rest of the crew. I know I'd have something set up with other infected, if not a few personal stashes in old sewers.

Dzoo-Noo-Qua have the benefit of being omnivorous, so while they will still have to eat metahuman flesh, they won't be restricted to it for their entire food intake. Otherwise it's a matter of preference and BP cost, imo.

[SanjuroKai]

in terms of food sources, having a well trusted street doc with some influence may provide food for services?

just food for thought

[Reaver]

Don't discourage someone from playing a character purely on personal bias. If a run goes south, there's nothing saying the infected troll will even end up in the same safehouse as the rest of the crew. I know I'd have something set up with other infected, if not a few personal stashes in old sewers.

Dzoo-Noo-Qua have the benefit of being omnivorous, so while they will still have to eat metahuman flesh, they won't be restricted to it for their entire food intake. Otherwise it's a matter of preference and BP cost, imo.

Except that as a dietary requirement, he must eat 1% of his mass per week in raw meta-human flesh, or he starts to starve.......and could just drop dead of hunger!


And, it is a viable concern when you bring an infected to the table that the other players will just up and nuke the infected for the reward...

Whenever you try to play a "snowflake" character, it's always best to talk to both the GM and the other players.... it avoids butt-hurt feelings when the character you spent 3 hours making gets killed in the first 5 minutes cause "Hey! It was a monster with a bounty on it! If it has a bounty, then I can kill it with no problems! After all it's not a person" Arguments.

(and yes, I have SEEN these arguments happen.)


In short, your character isn't in a vacuum, and when you play a monster, sometimes the other players see that as free game to kill you.

(/end rant /end warning)

[SanjuroKai]

to be honest, in a social group, if that actually happened it shows how shit your friends can be. If the gm okd it and a player stabbed your character in the back then i hope he gets expunged. Though i guess it would be the dms fault if he didnt explain it properly in the first place. But regardless, if players dont get a chance to play something interesting once in a while then why bother playing?

[Reaver]

to be honest, in a social group, if that actually happened it shows how shit your friends can be. If the gm okd it and a player stabbed your character in the back then i hope he gets expunged. Though i guess it would be the dms fault if he didnt explain it properly in the first place. But regardless, if players dont get a chance to play something interesting once in a while then why bother playing?

It all comes down to "fun"

And what you find "fun" I might find boring (and the reverse is also true)

Some people's "fun" is playing in a group and having a great time as a group...

Some people's "fun" is playing in a group, then doing everything they can to tear that group down.

Some people's "fun" is to actively and aggressively attack other player's characters in game (hurting, stabbing, killing, setting up the character to take a fall, Or some other action that hurts an other character)

Not to mention that all tables have different "table" rules.... and sometimes there is no limit on what your character can do, if supported by RP (including killing other players)


Without knowing what type of table Lord plays at, we don't know if they have any "table" rules that stop PKing.....or any other type of character on character violence. (and believe me, it does happen! just look around the forums here, you will find dozens of posts all related to temper-tantrums from a character getting killed.)

[SanjuroKai]

eh, i feel this topic is getting derailed. He was simply asking which we feel would make a better tank/be more fun to play. imho the dzoo-noo-qua seems most applicable

[DeathEatsCurry]

Some people's "fun" is to actively and aggressively attack other player's characters in game (hurting, stabbing, killing, setting up the character to take a fall, Or some other action that hurts an other character)

And as long as every player is okay with that (Or at least the person who's character's getting killed) there's nothing wrong. "Some people" usually boils down to that one guy at the table though. When your fun is to actively inhibit and ruin other people's fun, you probably have no place at the table of a social game.

To the OP, I'll say this much: Infected are usually a berserk button for GMs and players, so discuss it before making the character. There's some roleplay responsibilities to uphold as well. Unless you plan on constantly having an Armorer kit on you, or discussing some houseruled addition to the Acid resistance armor mod (Since currently, it just helps you soak more, it doesn't prevent the 1DV every turn), there s very little you can do about it. Dzoo is probably best.

[Novocrane]

Except that as a dietary requirement, he must eat 1% of his mass per week in raw meta-human flesh, or he starts to starve.......and could just drop dead of hunger!

"Just drop dead"? No. It's not instant or sudden, and you aren't providing an exception to what I said. ("so while they will still have to eat metahuman flesh, they won't be restricted to it for their entire food intake")
Kai is right though. This jumped straight into extreme tangents of potential problem players, tables that don't have tacit PvP agreements, and what might happen when a run goes bad.

Fomóraig lack regen, can only eat raw meat, and constantly secrete acid of [essence] rating that affects everything they touch. (acid which deals [essence] damage, resisted by half impact plus chemical protection and continues to apply equal damage for [essence] turns, and produces heavy smoke equivalent vis modifiers) They do have better attributes, though.

Dzoo-Noo-Qua have better natural armour, regen, higher charisma, can eat anything, but also have Essence Drain / Loss, and lower physical attributes.

[Reaver]

RC page 78

Dietary Requirement
All Infected have a dietary requirement (p. 290, SR4); failure
to meet this dietary requirement (5% of their body weight per
week) results in slow starvation. Treat this as a permanent box
of Fatigue damage for each whole week the character goes without,
which cannot be healed or regenerated until the character
meets their minimum dietary requirement. After four weeks, the
character must make a Body + Willpower (2) Test every day—if
they succeed, they permanently lose one point from a Physical or
Mental attribute of the gamemaster’s choice; if they fail, they die
of starvation. This process is accompanied by physical and mental
deterioration, which may include weight loss, atrophy of muscles
and flesh, damaged hair, lack of energy, hunger pains, depression,
paranoia, apathy, and decreased sex drive.
A (deltaware) digestive expansion implant (p. 338, SR4) allows
the Infected to process a more varied diet, allowing them to
ingest things that would normally nauseate them without penalty,
but it does not alleviate their dietary requirement.

read it wrong. It's 5% not 1%

[Novocrane]

And it's four weeks that the character can abstain without permanent penalty.

[lord_shadow_666]

Ok kids lets get off the I can be turned to cash by my group and have to eat the hobo on the corner, we have a drake in the group at the moment and I know a few of us are trying to see how we can sell him off, so yes being turned over for cash is going to be annoying but not the end of the world, I have a pile of characters at the moment. I am keeping the GM on top of the problems I come across while making the character as someone else in the group who is new to SR wants to be infected too.

So back to the big gribbly I am trying to make please and the differences between 1 infected and the other not the ¥ I could become or if I use the group as a snack. So Reaver, while you have made a valid point you have gone from saying have you considered these problems and here is my response to your help to jumping up and down screaming NO DON'T DO IT THEY WILL TURN YOU IN!

The armour of the Fomoraig is Heavy mil that can gather the secretion and spray it out, both have a "butcher" that can help with the food side of things and he has his own rat hole to vanish into if things do go south.

The Essence drain of the Dzoo might be a problem, but as its emotionally linked to the victim I could use someone who is more than happy to give me the essence who thinks they will be infected in turn. Is that going to run into a problem? How would a "victim" recover lost essence? Its one thing I cannot find.

[Reaver]

And it's four weeks that the character can abstain without permanent penalty.

never said it wasn't. Sorry If I implied it was. The penalties start to add up if he doesn't eat his 5% meta-human flesh quota.
First unhealable fatigue damage for the first 4 weeks.
After that, every week is either eat, die, or lose a permanent attribute point.


Which is something he, or anyone making an infected should be aware of... as well as the changes to infected if going to a 5e game.

[lord_shadow_666]

"well as the changes to infected if going to a 5e game"

As it says in the title its 4e

Well got a mini test against 3 of the group later to see how both my trolls will work. Should be fun