Yellow power rings
Beware your fears made into light,
Let those who try to stop what’s right,
Burn like our power,
Sinestro’s might !”
Context
This profile is for a generic Yellow Power Ring, representing the emotion of fear.
It is a companion profile for the Power Rings main article, which you should totally read first.
These are the mass produced rings used by the Sinestro Corps, not the original as used by Sinestro and Guy Gardner, so they may have some differences.
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Powers & Abilities
Closely modelled on Green Lantern Power Rings, Yellow Power Rings give the same basic powers, primarily the ability to create energy constructs.
They lack the Green Ring’s vulnerability to yellow. On the other hand they don’t have as wide a range of powers. Perhaps this is because Sinestro only formed them as a tool to force the Green Lantern Corps to become what he thought they should be. Sinestro also included a mechanism to allow him to turn them off should they be turned against him.
The presence of a Blue Power Ring causes a Yellow Ring’s charge to deplete at an increased rate.
The Rings also have a relationship with the latest version of Manhunters, whose batteries can be used to recharge Yellow Power Rings. They may also be rigged to drain their charge.
Recruitment
Yellow Rings seek hosts who have experience of fear, both experiencing and inflicting it, and who are inclined towards inflicting it and dominating others. For instance one approached Batman, but found his other qualities conflicted too much to make him useful.
In DC Heroes RPG terms it could mean they have Charisma (Intimidation), Strange Appearance (even in their regular environment), or an INFL of at least 08.
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The type of host Yellow Rings prefer can come into conflict with Sinestro’s aims for the Corps. Whereas Sinestro saw it as using fear to bring about order, most Sinestro Corps members were simply interested in bullying people.
Once the ring has chosen a host they’re transported to the anti-matter universe of Qward – by a process which seems to explode their body. Once there they undergo a process of psychological and physical reconditioning.
Exemplars of the traits the Yellow Power Rings look for include Sinestro (sector 1417), and Arkillo (sector 674).
Influence
It’s unclear how much the Ring and their training influence the user. Many wielders who were known before they got the Ring don’t appear to have changed that much.
From Hal’s brief time wearing one we can tell it inclines the wielder towards inciting fear. It presumably also gets them to enforce their dominance and enslave others.
While Sinestro views them as a police force for instilling order in the universe, without the restraints the Guardians put on the Green Lantern Corps, most Sinestro Corps members just enjoy using their powers to incite fear and bully people.
There have also been challenges to his leadership he’s had to defeat. So while the Rings may influence them to stay together as a corps it’s pretty much one where the strongest rule, bullying the weaker.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
YELLOW POWER RING (A 5597 HP Gadget)
INT 06 /BODY/ (Hardened) 12 BODY 30.
Powers:
Acuity: (Half-User-Linked to (INFL + Power Ring Skill APs)), Comprehend Languages: 20, Detect (Superior candidate for Sinestro Corps recruitment): 05, Dimension Travel (Storage Tesseract): 01, Dimension Travel (Travel): 10, Flight: 40, Force Manipulation: (INFL + Power Ring Skill APs), Life Sense: 15, Miniaturisation: 10, Regeneration: 04, Sealed Systems: 16, Skin Armor: 04, Telepathy: 05
Formulas:
- Acuity is Half-User-Linked to (INFL + Power Ring Skill APs) (round up).
- Force Manipulation is User-Linked to (INFL + Power Ring Skill APs).
Bonuses and Limitations:
- None of the Powers has an AV (-1 or -0 Drawback, depending on house rules) – use the relevant Accuracy Skill instead.
- Detect has a special +75 Range Bonus, and can only be used upon the death of the wearer, to scout for a successor (though Acuity could be used to perform similar scans in less dire circumstances).
Detect itself will scan for quantitative aspects such as the relevant Power Link Skill, Attribute, Advantages, but the process also allows for benchmarking against an exemplar to determine ethical suitably. This exemplar is programmed in the rings, but this is not a flawless process and sometimes it can authorise persons who aren’t that right. - Dimension Travel (Storage Tesseract) can hold a Power Battery.
- Dimension Travel (Travel) only allows travel between the DC Universe and Qward, and only for the ring-wielder.
- Life Sense is limited to detecting active Yellow Power Rings, and has a +30 Range Bonus.
- Telepathy cannot be used to engage in mental combat – only for communication, often helped by the ring’s Comprehend Languages.
- When used to communicate with members of the Sinestro Corps, Telepathy has a special +75 Range Bonus.
Advantages
Insta-Change.
Drawbacks:
- MIA (Incite Fear)
- Power Loss: The ring runs out of charge after roughly 24 Earth hours of fairly heavy use. When the ring’s charge is exhausted, all Powers go to zero until recharged. The ring provides updates as to its charge status (usually as a percentage) whenever requested or when passing certain thresholds.
- Power Loss: Sinestro can turn off any Yellow ring within 1 AP of him.
- Gradual Power Loss: Mental conditions that make it difficult to accurately visualise force constructs drastically lower the efficiency of the ring. These include psychoactive drugs, neural scrambling, inner ear scrambling, some sonic attacks, etc.
Any RAPs from such an effect means an immediate Gradual Power Loss of (RAPs+1) Columns on all of the ring’s Powers, as long as these effects are active. In the same spirit, RAPs from Mental and Spiritual attacks are subtracted from the EV or RV of any power ring use during the next Dice Action.
Source of Character: DC Comics.
Helper(s): Peter S Piispanen, Frank G. Murdock, Darthrose, Sébastien Andrivet, Eric Langendorff, Francisco, Roy Cowan, Adam Fuqua.
Writeup completed on the 11th of October, 2013.