Quato as a pc

[cobrazarro]

How would I best make a character similar to quato (from total recall) work? I'm in a small group and the DM gave me the okay to run two characters. I want to make a barbarian or fighter with a quato-like dude growing out of his stomach. I was thinking the quato-thing would be nice as a psionic or bard (I like the idea of a singing, charasmatic stomache monster). How would I best do this? I was thinking they would have to share hp (since they use the same body kinda). Maybe the quato thingy could go unconscious if the host body gets bloody. Any thoughts on how to make 2 characters that live off the same nervous system? Any thoughts on how to pull off a character that doesn't have legs, is limited to wearing a helmet, has arms too tiny to hold most weapons, and is "the brains of the operation," so to speak?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

You could just make it a single character, though it does seem like that might be a bit restrictive. Another option would be to make the character a hybrid of sorts. One option might be to treat quato as the PC and use the Companion Character rules for his 'host'. Maybe have them share one set of surges but they could still have separate hit points. Overall its probably going to take some tweaking to get it to work really well, but it sounds like fun.

 

[cobrazarro]

just realized that this should be in the homebrew section. I reposted there and will delete this thread when I find where the button to do so is hiding at. Sorry!

 

[cobrazarro]

You could just make it a single character, though it does seem like that might be a bit restrictive. Another option would be to make the character a hybrid of sorts. One option might be to treat quato as the PC and use the Companion Character rules for his 'host'. Maybe have them share one set of surges but they could still have separate hit points. Overall its probably going to take some tweaking to get it to work really well, but it sounds like fun.

yeah, i made up a barb sorc hybrid, but it doesn't really have the feel of them being 2 separate characters. If I can't figure anything else out though, that's what I'll stick with. Thanks for your insight!

 

[RangerWickett]

Something like this actually came up in a recent game of mine, when a PC and the ogre he was grappling both fell into lava. The party dragged their bodies out, and used magic to bring their friend back. The player wanted to switch things up, so he showed up as a horrific hybrid with an ogre body and a human torso growing out of his chest.

(His was a bit more nimble, though. The ogre could grab foes, and the human body could hack at them with a sword.)

If you are going to treat them as two characters who just share a body, I'd go the simplest route possible:

The two characters share a space.

The small one (probably modeled on a halfling, because gnome, goblin, and kobold all have racial powers that don't make sense here) cannot move independently. Forced movement has no effect on the little guy. However, wherever the big one moves, the small one moves with it.

Targeted attacks count each character as a separate target. Bursts, blasts, zones, etc. can affect them both at once. Conditions on one do not necessarily affect the other.

Each character's stats are unaffected. The little guy could even wear tiny full plate if he was proficient. If the little guy has a high reflex defense and the big guy doesn't, you can explain it away somehow. Like, maybe the big guy wears a tiny shield on his chest, and the little guy is good at cowering under it.

The two characters roll initiative independently and can act on separate turns, but for ease of play, usually the character that goes first will delay until the other's turn. Then, until one character has a reason to delay again, they effectively share a turn.


I'd go for a barbarian big guy with a psion little guy. If you make him a telekinetic, he can even move on his own if he uses telekinetic powers on the barbarian.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Cool idea! My friend and I ran into a similar conundrum when we wanted to play a two-headed alien in a Star Wars campaign. But unfortunately the GM nixed the idea before we came up with a solution.

Would any of the other players like to get in on the concept with you? There could be some great roleplaying situations if one player was Quato and another player was the host guy.

 

[cobrazarro]

Thanks a ton Ranger! I just sent your suggestion to the rest of my group for their thoughts. Wednesday, I like your idea too. I sent that to my group as well (I like the idea of the DM controlling... it'd give him a character that I can punch in the face)

 

[rjs]

How would I best make a character similar to quato (from total recall) work?

This. This is awesome. But a singing, charismatic stomach monster is just hilarious. Here's what I would do off the top of my head. Give the character speed 0 (unless you want some hot X-Files action) and give him the following trait:

Conjoined Twin
Quato is joined at the stomach with Quaid (I realize Quaid is Ahnold's character) and thus occupies Quaid's space. Whenever Quaid moves, Quato moves with Quaid, remaining in his space. Whenever Quato would move, he instead allows Quaid to move and Quato moves with him. Finally, Quato gains a +2 racial bonus to defenses against opportunity attacks.

This way, if Quato wants to teleport, he's not killing himself by forcibly extracting himself from Quaid's body. The boost to OA helps mitigate Quato's vulnerability to OAs when using ranged/area powers. Quato can also still be attacked as a separate creature. He rolls a separate initiative and has a full suite of actions. You might also have the following power.

Take My Hands!
At-Will
Move Action Melee 0
Target: Quaid
Effect: Quaid moves 2 squares or shifts 1 square as a free action.

As for magic items, given your unusual circumstances, I'd let Quato use the inherent bonus system to offset his weird body shape. There's nothing stopping Quato from turning magic rings into magic flesh rings (through the nose for instance). Other items would be tricky, but inherent bonuses cover the big stuff.

Bonus: If you want a detachable conjoined twin, you might run with this power.

Bloodied Separation
Encounter
No Action Personal
Trigger: Quaid becomes bloodied.
Effect: Quato loses conjoined twin and gain speed 4 until the end of the encounter. He then shifts 1 square.