[UA] Archetype: The Eternal Soldier

[Kevin Mowery]

----------
> From: Stacy Stroud <sstroud at uky.campuscwix.net>
> To: UA at purpletape.cs.uchicago.edu
> Subject: Re: [UA] Archetype: The Eternal Soldier
> Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 12:16 PM
> 
> >THE ETERNAL SOLDIER
> 
> [snip archetype]
> 
> I like, except for the name.
> 
> 'Eternal Soldier' makes me think of exactly what this archetype is *not*
--
> the macho-man soldier-of-fortune types who go looking for new wars every
> time peace breaks out.
> 
> Must admit that I can't think of a good alternative, though.  "The
> Unwilling Soldier" is accurate, but not as evocative as the original
> choice.  Maybe do something with the concept of the "Unknown Soldier"?

	I'm not sure that the "Unknown Soldier" is quite accurate, either.
	The Eternal Soldier makes me think of Warren Zevon's "Roland the Headless
Thompson Gunner": The eternal Thompson gunner still wanders through the
night/Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight.  I picture
the Eternal Soldier as someone who went to war, maybe willingly maybe not,
but no matter what he does he keeps getting pulled back in to another war.
	Perhaps this is archetypal feature creep.  
	I liked the concept overall, but I felt that there was too much focus on
defensive powers.  The Eternal Soldier may seek battle only as a last
resort, but when it does, I figure the archtype fights like a cornered rat.
 Perhaps also something to do with the horrors of war.  Here's my
suggestions:

First rank: Can flip any skill roll to get away from combat.  Can always
dodge first, etc. 
Second rank: Feign Death
Third Rank:  If the character is wounded, they can make an Avatar: Eternal
Soldier check.  If successful, they can flip any attack rolls for the
duration of the combat.  (If they choose to do this, though, they have to
keep attacking until either they or their opponents are *dead*.)
Fourth Rank: With a successful skill roll, less the Mind rating of the
target, the Eternal Soldier can give the target a failed mark in either
Violence, Helplessness, Isolation, or Self, as the avatar pumps the horrors
of war directly into the target's head.  This will also require the target
to make a check against the Unnatural, as they're getting a memory that
isn't theirs.  The memory has to be appropriate to the check--gunning down
women and children for Self, being a POW for Helplessness, stranded in the
jungle for Isolation, seeing your buddies blown up for Violence, etc.  The
Eternal Soldier allows avatars to project stressful memories of past
avatars (this isn't useful for anything other than this power, BTW), but if
the avatar uses his own, first-hand memories, the target's Mind isn't
subtracted--they will almost automatically get a failed mark.  Either way,
this can be done only once per target per day.


Kevin "Professor Bobo" Mowery _____________________ profbobo at io.com
"The entire dismemberment of Vash Gar reveals an ignorance of anatomy so 
deep that I begin to question whether the author does, indeed, have a
body."
                       --ratmm's Norb on the "Seven Stars MSTing"
     **See the "Seven Stars MSTing" at http://www.io.com/~profbobo **
                           


> 
> 
> Stacy Stroud
> sstroud at uky.campuscwix.net
>