Branded Soldier

[Seb Wiers]

Interesting.  I ended up with a somewhat similar character, via a different path.  Our GM had us make what seemed pretty powerful characters (10 refresh, all must be spent, 35 skill - but FATE points are gonna work a bit differently, so that may not be as powerful as it looks).  I'm new to the game and didn't want to play a magic user due to complexity, but also didn't want to be stuck with the same few tricks before I'd even had a chance to play the game; when I saw the "Modular Ability" deal, it seemed perfect.  

I decided to do a kung-fu prodigy, who was actually descended of / a refuge from members of the Celestial Court (which may or may not have ties to the Jade Court- what I had in mind was more like the "honored ancestors" of ancient Chinese rulers, who might be fae or minor gods or some new class of power).  His father emigrated from Honk Kong when Chan was a baby; Chan is the child of a celestial court maiden who was impudent enough to have an affair with a mortal.  Wong Sr. has trained Chan in the traditions of ancient Kung Fu (IE, the kind that is actually supernatural) and also some related healing arts (non supernatural in effect, but using related knowledge).  Unfortunatley, shortly before Chan's 18th birthday, Wong Sr. died and many of his scrolls and artifacts were stolen before Chan had a chance to study them.
 
Here's what I'm working with so far.  When setting up mu "modular ability" choices, I modeled them after (stereotyped views of- I'm looking to imitate "non-magical" kung-fu movie tropes, not real martial arts) the five kung fu animal styles, and picked things that wouldn't go wonky when turned on / off.  I've been working with the GM (newtinmpls) to get these sorted, and they look like a lot of fun so far.

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Chan Li Wong
Template: ???? (unique - so far)
HC: Scion of the Celestial Court / Kung Fu Hero
Trouble: Big Trouble in Little China
Other Aspects: In a Foriegn Land (BG), Honor Father's Memory & Dojo (Shaped), Fool for Love (adventure), Cooler Heads (guest), Lend a Hand (guest)

Skills:
Superb: Fists, Endurance
Great: Might, Athletics
Good: Alertness, Stealth
Fair: Scholarship, Contacts, Intimidation
Average: Resources, Empathy, Conviction, Presence

Stunts / Powers:
Chinese Medicine (Doctor) : -1
Marked by Power : -1
6 points Modular Ability as "Kung Fu Styles" : -8

Chan's Kung Fu Styles:
Each of these styles requires using 6 points of Modular Ability to activate.  There may be other styles / versions of these styles that take more or less power to activate; these are just the ones Chan knows.  You can only know as many styles as your Fists level allows (5 for Superb, etc).  The Resilience based powers Chan manifests as part of his Kung Fu Styles must all have the same Catch, worth +1 FP; Chan doesn't know what this catch is.
Switching between styles is an action, just like shifting Modular Powers is (mechanically, that's what it is).  Stylistically, this typically involves Chan cracking his neck, changing his pose, and / or shouting the name of some martial arts move he plans to use (ie, typical "pause in fight to change tactics" MA movie tropes).

Monkey Style: inhuman strength & speed, mighty leap, acrobat
Mantis Style: inhuman strength & recovery, redirect force, wrestler, armed arts (knife, baton)
Tiger Style: inhuman strength & resilience, step into the blow, tough stuff, armed arts (sword, mace)
Crane Style: inhuman speed & resilience, to fast to hit, footwork, armed arts (spear, staff)
Snake Style: inhuman recovery & resilience, lethal weapon, on my toes, armed arts (chain whip, dart)
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[devonapple]

Interesting.  I ended up with a somewhat similar character, via a different path.  Our GM had us make what seemed pretty powerful characters (10 refresh, all must be spent, 35 skill - but FATE points are gonna work a bit differently, so that may not be as powerful as it looks).  I'm new to the game and didn't want to play a magic user due to complexity, but also didn't want to be stuck with the same few tricks before I'd even had a chance to play the game; when I saw the "Modular Ability" deal, it seemed perfect.  

I went the Modular Abilities path with an NPC Martial Artist as well!

Let us know if that works out: I feared it would end up being too much of an opportunity to step on other players' specialties, but "niche protection" isn't necessarily a component of the DFRPG.

[Seb Wiers]

Cool, good to know I was probably on the right track (or at least stumbled on a fairly obvious and workable track) for a martial artist.
Niche protection (or its lack) doesn't look like a problem in this case; my character is pretty much the only one built for a straight up brawl / gunfight in mind.  Fortunately, a reluctance to pick fights is more or less built into the character concept (reflected in the "cooler heads" aspect), so I'm not pulling the rest into fights (though I'm maybe less likely to shy from them).  

I also figure that even in combat, there's a lot of niche's I really can't cover (bypassing catches, ranged attacks, supernatural level power).  If it comes up later that somebody wants to play a face-kicker, 10 refresh points is a LOT when you can blow it all on smack-down powers; anybody who wants to go that route without modular power can probably find a niche I missed, since I've basically got 4 RP cut out for non-combat stuff.

[Ren]

That is VERY interesting, I'll have to consider that for future purposes. Really is more reflective of fast-paced martial arts!
Too k me a second to recognize some of the Powers as Mortal Stunts, under normal circumstances the Modular Abilities does not actually allow for the taking of Mortal stunts, I think because you are no longer mortal, but I think that given the background it would apply even more. As a GM I'd certainly allow it.

The actual character I based this Branded Guy on came from the 'Aberrant' Superhero RPG where he would absorb damage to redirect it into his body and his powers so the harder he got hit the stronger he got...as long as he could absorb the initial blow! Unfortunately, or fortunately maybe, DFRPG doesn't have a power like that so the Modular Ability works just fine.

[Seb Wiers]

I'd initially tried to do it without mortal stunts, but you really can't capture the "martial arts movie" flavor without them, and I would have ended up resorting to superhuman levels of power (which I didn't really want) just for variety between styles.  I also didn't want the stuff that a martial arts movie character couldn't have, like claws or wings, so again was pretty stuck for variety.  Modular Ability is obviously made with something rather different in mind- I don't think its meant for people who manifest new powers due to activating enchantments / focusing chi / etc.

And yeah, if Modular Ability could be used to access to an unlimited number of any sort of mortal stunts, it would be pretty imbalanced.  Hopefully having it give access to a limited number of thematic mortal stunts is more or less on par with the effects you could get from things a wizard can do (in this case by using various effects to boost his own physical prowess).  That's what I was aiming for.

If I knew the system a bit better, I might have gone for an actual wizard, one who used various effects to achieve what is normally described as "martial arts"; I'm not sure if the system entirely allows that, though, and I expect the flavor would be rather different.