The Darkness said:
I'm new to d20 modern, but already I have more ideas than I can possibly write down. One of my characters wants to be a Revenant, as seen in the menace manual. I'm intrigued by the idea of a revenging restless dead guy in my campaign, but I fear it would be to powerful for that character. I’m running an Urban Arcana meets sci-fi campaign. Any ideas?
The
Menace Manual revenant is roughly based on the revenant from
Xenoforms, for Alternity's
Dark Matter Campaign Setting. In
Xenoforms, we presented three different types of revenants: the Avenger (a combat-oriented revenant, loosely based on Eric Draven from
The Crow), the Messenger (a sort of object-lesson external conscience), and the Guardian (a protector of innocents).
The more powerful the revenant, the shorter its artificial "lifespan." The Avenger, being designed to be a butt-kicker, had only a month to carry out his vengeance. The Messenger, being more pacifistic, was allowed a year among the living. And the Guardian, whose goal of safeguarding the innocent might realistically never be reached, had as long as it took to accomplish a specific protection task.
In addition, we limited the power of the revenant somewhat by stating that a revenant's supernatural abilities (quick recovery and such) didn't work if they weren't used in conjunction with the revenant's stated goal. So, for example, the
d20 Modern revenant's regeneration ability might not work if he sustains the damage from a gunshot wound in a brawl with a thug who has nothing to do with the people who killed the revenant's living body.
And, of course, there's always the
Menace Manual revenant's
Vulnerability Fear quality: The revenant is terrified of items directly associated with his death. Makes for a great limiting factor if the item is something that plays a major part in the campaign, like a particular weapon, or the vehicle of a public figure, or some such.
