Lovecraftian Superpower: Difference between revisions

* A feature of ''The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor'', a supplement for ''[[Monsters and Other Childish Things]]''. The more powers you have, the more creepy other people find you and the less you can pass for normal. (In the original game, you have a [[Mons|mon]] companion. In ''Candlewick Manor'', you have an eerie power which (usually) manifests physically, or else mentally or psychically.)

* Sorcerers in the game ''Sorcerer'' who have Parasite demons commonly have this kind of power.

** Hell, an eye or emu's leg is nothing compared to the grotesque explosions of tentacles (with breasts and tongues if we're talking about Slaanesh)that you can get stuck with!

** Chaos Marauders, at least in their [[MMORPG|Age of Reckoning]] manifestation, use Chaos energies to spontaneously mutate their limbs into a variety of crablike claws and similar weapons.

* ''[[GURPS]]'' lists the Battle Jaw, Tentacle Transplant and Ripsnake as potential body modifications, which can come as quite a shock to the unsuspecting.

** ''[[GURPS]] [[Celtic Mythology]]'' also includes the above mentioned warp-spasm. All Fomorians [[Half Human Hybrids|and their descendants]] also receive a [[Red Right Hand]] that gives them the ability to horrify opponents.

** The core rules have the Phantasmal Killer spell, which essentially makes your foes see something they consider the scariest thing ever approaching them. If it works, the victim dies of fright.

*** And then ''[[Planescape]]'' got a story of some wizard who had a bright idea to cast ''this'' on Ethereal plane, where any vision generated via illusion/phantasm has a small chance of becoming quite real - sometimes under the caster's command, sometimes not. The point is, a critter with powers resembling this spell is still around... unlike that wizard.

** The fourth clause of the Contract of Mirrors allows [[Changeling: The Lost|changelings]] to turn a limb into a weapon, their skin into bark, etc.

* Fomori have this and [[The Corruption]] as pretty much their entire schtick in [[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]: sure, you can get [[Super Strength]], but you're gonna look like a ''reeeally'' ugly Hulk for the rest of your life. Or that convenient [[Nigh Invulnerable|armor]] power you just got takes the form of a thick, chitinous exoskeleton that covers your entire body. It doesn't stop there and Storytellers are often encouraged to go further down the [[Humanoid Abomination]] route. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] by the fact that Fomori get their powers from being fused to a [[Eldritch Abomination|Bane]] on a physical and spiritual level, and that for each Power Point they get at creation, they must take on an equivalent Taint to balance it out.

* In ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'', Tagers and their Nyarlathotep-worshiping counterparts, the Dhohanoids, manifest a [[Guyver]]-style ability to transform into [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations.]]

* Nightbane. A Palladium horror dark fantasy, where your [[Blessed with Suck]] powers are to transform into an inhuman, grotesque, powerful form.

* ''[[BioShock (series)]]'s'' "Insect Swarm" plasmid causes a small hive-like growth to form on your palm, which allows you to ''[[Bee-Bee Gun|throw live swarms of hornets]] at your foes''.

** Most of the other plasmids, which are injected into yourself in order to [[Lego Genetics|rapidly modify your genetic structure]], combine this with [[Elemental Powers]].

* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' has the main character capable of significantly altering his own body, allowing him to grow everything from claws to [[Combat Tentacles]] to better destroy absolutely everything around him... or he can ''eat someone'' to steal their appearance and blend into a crowd. Combine this with [[Super Strength]], [[Super Speed]], and [[Nigh Invulnerability]], and you've got one very scary [[Villain Protagonist]] on your hands.

** That and his ability to spray blood from his wrists with such force he [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/789-Prototype can fly around like an Emo Peter Pan.]

[[Category:Cosmic Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Evil Is Visceral]]