Re: Characters as Air Elementals

[Joel Gunderson <belgarat@expert.cc.purdue.edu>]

I agree with Lyle on some points, but not all.  I don't believe the
character should just be revoked from the player (for his own good seems a
bit iffy/shady to me), but the character should have some serious
consequences for his actions.  Turning from a human (albeit a freaky one)
into a gaseous form should make him go a little nuts, at least for a time.
When my character was mutated for Quickness I had a nervous twitch for
about 2 game years until I got used to it.  Imagine the consequences for
someone who completely changes the base state of his existence.  The other
obvious problem that could come into play with his character is the fact
that he wanders around invisible all the time.  Most powerful actors or
monsters will most likely have some form of defense against this
eventuality...especially if he tries to enter unannounced into their
domain.  Anything that a mage can 'harness' and give a deferred item of
some nasty spell to so it can assassinate someone due to it's perpetual
invisibility and gaseous form would most definitely be looked out for in
some circles.  As has already been pointed out, he is much more
susceptible
to certain spells now as well aka fireball, vacuum, comet, conflagration,
elemental mastery, etc.  Not to mention it will be very difficult for him
to be in public places and not be invisible.  BTW, what're the approximate
chances of him encountering other air elementals who can see him when he's
invisible as he's wandering around?  How rampant are they?  

Basically, all it comes down to is that there are a shload of
disadvantages that he will have to put up with.

Joel

On Wed, 14 Oct 1998, Lyle H Janney wrote:

> Hmmm, well, as regards the original question (should mutate 
> work on an Air Elemental), I would say that the  GM's who all 
> said "no" last Saturday were in the right; no DNA, no effect.
> 
> I also have to put forth this comment; shame on the player for 
> not excepting the answer of the GM who was directly adjudicating 
> the situation.  If a GM gives a reasonable and logical answer to a 
> question put forth by a player and the player doesn't like it; then 
> that player should then be directed to either a Senior GM, or Dan 
> himself (in the case where the GM in dispute is a Senior GM).  
> This protocol needs to be made apparent to the players and it 
> needs to be enforced.  We, as GM's, should not be encouraging 
> players to go from GM to GM until they find one who will support 
> them; doing so will only add to the munchkinism that is so rampant 
> already.  Now, if this was a case of all 10 GM's deciding to have 
> a little huddle to figure it out amongst themselves before giving the
> player an answer, then that is different; but I get the impression 
> that such is not the case.
> 
> Another interesting question comes to mind though, now that the
> character is an air elemental, should they become an actor?  I can
> see letting the player continue to play the character if they were, in
> fact, part of a plot device.  There are plenty of instances where a
> player (or players) was allowed to play a character that was well 
> outside the bounds of campaign balance because they served as
> a plot device.  The KVIN comes to mind, but I also recall instances
> where a player was asked to play a Hirudo for several games in
> order to set up a party, or a player was asked to play an avatar of
> a god, etc.  These are all legitimate plot devices.  However, unless
> there is a legitimate plot device for the air elemental, I seriously
> doubt they would fit into adventuring society any longer.  Actually,
> I'm having difficulty determining how they could even keep their
> sanity given the completely alien form they have assumed.  What
> I'm getting at is that I feel that the player should relinquish the
> character; what happens to it and what it does is no longer under 
> his control.  The alternative is that they either don't play that
> character anymore, or they take constant harassment from in-
> game groups who feel that Air Elementals belong on the plane
> of Air and they are just the ones to keep it that way.  Not to mention
> the small group of powerful mages who wouldn't mind harnessing 
> the power of a lone Air Elemental.  This player is in for all sorts of
> serious BOHEKAs (them, and anyone silly enough to defend them,
> that is).  But, since players who do munchkinny things do it for the
> attention, letting them keep the character and making them deal
> with the consequences in game will just feed that need for attention
> and in the end they will just feel that everyone is out to get them.  So,
> I would still opt for the, "Congratulations, you won; please give me
> your character card and start a new character to play" option.
> 
> Sorry this rambled overlong; I'm getting over a cold.
> 
> Lyle
> 
>