By D. P. Blewer.
I've been thinking recently about the Paradox Cube. Tthe card from Flashpoint states the following:
Paradox Cube
Edge
Cost: ffM 2
Text: Unique. When Paradox Cube enters play, pick a non-Limited
Edge in play. Paradox Cube copies the special abilities of that
Edge.
Tag: Many Purists still have all their fingers.
Artist: Dennis Detwiller
Rarity: Uncommon
Now my thinking on this:
The Paradox Cube is able to absorb any schtick that the Purist is subjected to, such as Creature Powers, Sorcery, Fu Schticks, Transformed Animal Schticks and any other homebrew stuff. It could also be used to absorb Gun Schticks and Arcanowave abilities, but as these are readily available in the Purist home juncture (2056), it rarely is.
As an Active Dodge, the Purist uses his Sorcery to absorb an attack and store it in the cube. The absorbed power is used at the AV of the original user. The power is stored in the Cube until it is displaced by another one, at the Purists discretion.
Now, the bad stuff...
Well, for a start, most Purists do not have a Sorcery level above 12, as its use is alien to them, so absorbing a Schtick can be problematic at times. Also, each use of the Cube in a session generates points similar to mutation points only if these points are not overcome by a Sorcery Roll, then the Cube painfully consumes one of your fingers. Trying to absorb a power counts as a use.
A loss of a finger leads to a -2 in all Dex based skills (including Arcanotech). This is, sadly, culmative and prosthetic fingers will not reduce the penalty (although it will hide membership to an outlawed secret society) and the cube will consume bionic fingers. This leads the Purist (victim?) to use the Cube more as the powers stored in there are not subject to this penalty and leads to the loss of more digits. No one has lost all their fingers (yet), so it is unsure what happens next.
I would suggest that the Cube starts on the toes next and slowly eats the users body, but then I'm just downright cruel.
Use of the Cube to use Arcanowave powers does not generate Mutation points.
The Cube itself has 35 WPs and relevant stats equal to the number of Powers it has stored plus the number of fingers it has consumed. It dodges at the AV of the Purist. If a Cube is "killed" all of its stored powers are used against random individuals around it.
The Paradox Cube is pretty powerful and not intended to be used by PCs, certainly not Sorcerers But hey -- it's your game and the thought of Billy, the stone cold Killer and neophyte mage looking at the stump where his trigger finger used to be is pretty funny.
Last modified: May 12th, 1999; please send comments to durrell@innocence.com.